Just A Bad Day
by LouLou96
Summary: Ziva's day is going from bad to worse but when she puts her life in danger, Gibbs is not happy. WARNING: This story will contain spanking of adults. Don't like, don't read
1. The Bad Morning

**This is my first fan fiction story ever so I hope you enjoy it. Any mistakes you find here are entirely my own (if anyone would be interested in beta-ing this story please PM, I would be much obliged).**

**Disclaimer: NCIS is not, unfortunately, mine.**

**WARNING: This story will complain corporal punishment of an adult. **

Leroy Jethro Gibbs was an intimidating man at the best of times, Ziva thought to herself. But when you had severely pissed him off and he was stood over you, giving you his most ferocious glare he was, quite frankly, terrifying. Of course, she was a highly trained ex-Mossad agent and would never let him know this, she sat with her arms crossed never breaking eye contact, which only served to made him even madder.

When he finally spoke it was cold and quiet and caused Ziva's stomach to tumble involuntarily.

"Would you like to tell me what the hell you were thinking?"

"Not particularly," she replied dismissively.

Gibbs took a deep breath to try and keep a hold of his temper. "Ziva Abrahama David," he said slowly. "I suggest you quit with the attitude right now. You're in enough trouble as it is."

"I did nothing wrong," Ziva argued narrowing her eyes.

"Nothing wrong?" Gibbs asked disbelievingly. "You think you did nothing wrong? Well, we'll just go through the list of offences you've racked up today shall we?"

Ziva's stomach did another involuntarily flip. She had a feeling she was not going to enjoy this conversation. As Gibbs began to speak she thought back to how this had all began.

xxxFLASHBACKxxx

Everything was going wrong for Ziva that morning. Her alarm clock had broken at she had woken up half an hour late,which meant she had to fly around in a rush to get ready for work,which in turn caused her to forget her report which she did not realise until she was halfway to the bus stop, having discovered that her car would not start.

She had ran back home, then ran to the bus stop just in time to watch it pull away. The next bus that came was too full and when she finally got on the bus she was sat next to the smelliest man she had ever encountered.

Next she had discovered that the bus did not stop by the Navy yard and so she had to get off and run the last ten blocks. All this meant that, despite her best efforts, she was an hour late and arrived to the bullpen to Tony's jibes and Gibbs' glare. She'd apologised quickly and slid in behind her computer which, off course, would not turn on. By the time she had hit the monitor a few times,swore rather colourfully in multiple languages and finally admitted defeat and called Tim over she had decided that her day could not get any worse.

She had never been more wrong.

**Sorry that this is so short but I'm just getting started and hopefully the next chapters will be longer. Please review, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated but flames will be used to roast marshmallows. **


	2. A Run In With The Director

**Much as it pains me to say it, I still don't own NCIS. **

"Grab your gear, dead marine at Quantico."

Team Gibbs jumped up, relieved for the break in the mind numbing boredom of cold cases that had occupied most of their morning.

"What's happened Boss?" Tony asked as he snatched up his bag and followed Gibbs to the elevator.

"I know just as much as you do DiNozzo," came the reply as Gibbs climbed onto the elevator. He looked between his two male agents. "Where's Ziva?"

The three men looked back towards the bullpen to see their colleague slamming drawers and moving things around on her desk in an extremely flustered manner.

"David!" Gibbs yelled "Were you planning on joining us?"

Ziva looked up. "I can't find my badge or my sig," she admitted, a worried look on her face.

Gibbs glared at her briefly before turning to Tony. "Take her to the armoury and get her a replacement gun and a temporary ID. Follow us to Quantico. You have thirty minuets. Got it?"

"Got it Boss," Tony said exiting the elevator and making his way back over to the bullpen.

Ziva was now engaged in a frantic search under her desk and a smirk crossed Tony's face as he lent against the partition to enjoy the pleasant view of his attractive partners posterior.

"Well, Zee-vah," Tony said eventually.

Usually he wouldn't have had a hope in hell of scaring his ninja assassin of a partner but she had been so occupied in her search that his voice startled her and she jumped and hit her head on the desk, which only served to heighten Tony's enjoyment of the situation. Ziva crawled back out from under the desk and glared at Tony.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

Tony laughed harder, "Temper, temper. The boss told me to bring you down to the armoury for a gun and badge. We've only got thirty minutes so we'd better hurry."

It had taken about ten of their thirty minuets to get Ziva re-equipped and they should have made it to the crime scene in plenty of time. However, they had run into a complication. Who was going to drive?

"I am going to drive Tony!" Ziva declared, glaring.

"Like hell you are! I would actually like to survive this journey!"

"My driving is not that bad!"

"Yes it is!"

"No it is not!"

"Is!"

"Is not!"

"Is!"

"Is n..."

"What on earth is going on down here?"

Ziva and Tony turned slowly to towards the door, sheepish expressions on their faces, to meet the less than impressed gaze of Jennifer Sheppard.

"Well?"

"Uh, hi Director. Um, uh, well, you see..."

"Spit it out DiNozzo," Jenny snapped.

"Tony would not let me drive," Ziva supplied

Jenny turned to look at her. "_That _is why the two of you were down here screaming at each other like a couple of toddlers having a tantrum?"

"I was not having a tantrum!" Ziva yelled indignantly. "I just wanted to drive the car!"

Jenny raised her eyebrows as Tony snorted.

"No, of course you weren't having a tantrum Zee-vah, because that was the pinnacle of adult behaviour."

Ziva turned to her partner, a murderous look in her eyes, but before she could say anything Jenny interrupted.

"Enough! Tony, you drive. Ziva, for that outburst you've lost the privilege of driving any agency vehicle for the next month. And if I hear you fighting like that again there will be severe consequences, is that clear?"

"Yes Ma'am," Tony answered quickly.

Ziva opened her mouth to argue but thought better of it and settled with sending a fierce glare in Jenny's direction. "Yes Ma'am," she said through clenched teeth.

"Good. Now, if I were you I would hurry up. You don't want to keep Gibbs waiting."

Tony's eyes flew to his watch and he cursed loudly as he realised they only had six minuets left. He and Ziva flung themselves into the car and pulled out of he garage as fast as they could.

Jenny watched them go with a slight smile and a shake of her head. Director of a federal agency? Yeah right. Try Principle of an elementary school.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did please review and tell me why, I you didn't please review and tell me how I can improve. **


	3. Sans Backup

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, your support makes me write faster! **

"If I had driven we would not be so late," Ziva hissed.

"Shut up Ziva," Tony hissed back.

"DiNozzo! David! You're fifteen minutes late!"

"Uh, yeah, sorry Boss. Car troubles."

"Right. Ziva, I found this in he parking garage." He held up her badge.

"Oh, I must have dropped it on my way in." She took it from him sheepishly.

"I think that's quite likely. McGee will fill you in. I want all the evidence bagged and tagged.

"On it Boss," the two chorused.

-NCISNCISNCISNCIS-

Three hours later and the earlier joy of having a new case had worn off and boredom had once again set in as they carried out mundane background checks and hit brick wall after brick wall.

Ziva had been half asleep on her hand when her computer beeped and made her jump.

"I've got something!" she announced, grabbing the plasma remote and clicking a couple of buttons. "Petty Officer Williams had a storage container near the docks. He accessed it twice a month, always on the fourth and twenty-fourth, for five years and then he stopped suddenly in 2008. It wasn't accessed for three years but last week it was accessed on three separate occasions, on Monday, by Petty Officer Williams, on Wednesday by Petty Officer Jenkins, the other victim, and on Thursday by Lara McAshton, Petty Officer Williams' ex-wife."

"She did it!" Tony said immediately.

"Why do you always assume it is the wife Tony?" Ziva asked

"'Cause nine times out of ten it is."

"Come on, let's check out that storage unit. Ziva, you can drive," he tossed the keys to her.

Ziva caught them with a worried look on her face."Um...uh...drive Boss?"

Gibbs looked at her confused. "Yes drive. Is that a problem?"

"Um, well, no, but..."

"She's not allowed to drive," Tony supplied, always eager for a chance to drop his partner in it.

"Says who?"

"The Director."

"Shut _up_ Tony!"

"Why would the Director say you can't drive Ziva?"

"Well, you see Gibbs..."

"She and Tony were fighting over who got to drive and when I told them to stop, she yelled at me," Jenny explained, having arrived in the bullpen to the tail end of the conversation.

"She accused me of being a toddler throwing a tantrum!" Ziva tried to defend herself

"You were acting like a toddler throwing a tantrum," Jenny rebuked, the look in her eyes daring Ziva to argue.

"I guess Tony will have to drive then," Gibbs said. "And we'll talk about this later."

At these words Ziva felt a very unfamiliar sensation. She had faced guns and bombs and terrorists without batting an eyelid but at the look in Gibbs' eyes and the idea of explaining her outburst in the garage to him made her. . .scared. It was not a feeling she was used to, or one she liked.

'Don't be ridiculous Ziva, she chastised herself. 'Pull yourself together.'

"Ziva!"

Whilst Ziva had been preoccupied in giving herself a mental dressing down she had failed to notice that the rest of the team had reached the elevator.

She hurried after them and twenty minuets later they'd pulled up outside the storage facility.

Flashing their badges to gain access they were lead to Petty Officer Williams' storage container. They were in the process of opening the doors when Tony stopped suddenly and looked around.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered.

The others stopped what they were doing as well.

"Hear what?" Ziva whispered back.

"It sounded like a muffled gunshot," he responded.

"You sure DiNozzo?"

"Yeah Boss."

All four agents listened quietly and sure enough, a few seconds later, they heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire.

The team immediately began to move apart looking for the source of the gunshots. For a few moments all was silent but then Ziva heard the sound of footsteps approaching. She drew her gun and moved behind a nearby crate. When the footsteps moved off in the other direction she chanced poking her head out from behind the crate and saw an armed man moving towards a storage unit that was separated from the others. She quickly radioed to the team.

"I'm eye-balling a suspect right now. Male, Caucasian, brown hair, about 6'3", armed. He's headed towards a slightly separated storage container and..."

A sudden gunshot, much closer this time, made her jump and she dropped her gun. She cursed as it slid under the small gap underneath a nearby container, knowing she'd never be able to get it back out.

"I've lost my weapon. There's a back door to the facility in the direction the suspect is heading. I'm going after him."

"No Ziva, you are not going after an armed suspect with no weapon and no backup."

"But Gibbs..."

"I said _no_ Ziva. You will hold position and wait for us. That is an order Officer David!"

Ziva stayed where she was for a moment before making a decision. She turned her radio off and came out from behind the crate.

'I can't let him get away,' she justified her actions to herself as she took off after the suspect. As she approached the isolated storage contained she could hear movement inside. She slipped towards the door quietly then burst in tackling the man to the ground sending his gun flying across the unit. There was a few seconds of struggle before she managed to gain the upper-hand and pull out her handcuffs. Just as she was about to snap them in to place she felt something press up against the back of her head.

"Put the handcuffs down little lady."

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review.**


	4. I'm Fine!

Ziva could feel the rope cutting into her wrists and ankles and there was a throbbing pain in the back of her head. The three men were stood in front of her speaking very fast in a language she couldn't understand. Suddenly the men swung round to face her. One looked at the others and spoke in the strange tongue. The tallest replied with what sounded terrifyingly like a Russian phrase she understood perfectly.

"_Kill the bitch."_

The smallest of the men pulled a pistol from his pocked. Ziva took deep breaths and forced herself to look the man in the eye. She was not going to be purple at the end. Or was it green. Or maybe something else. Ziva almost laughed out loud with the ridiculousness of her spending her last moments contemplating the American idioms which had drove her insane for so long.

The sight was at the man's eye now and he was moving his hand towards the the trigger but still Ziva didn't flinch.

"NCIS! Drop your weapons!"

All three men froze for a moment and then the smallest of the men flicked his finger against the trigger.

As the shot sounded Gibbs' faltered for a moment before yelling out, "Get your hands in the air!"

As the men turned he could see Ziva lying motionless, still tied to the chair, on the floor and his stomach began to turn somersaults. _'No,'_ he thought desperately._ 'Damn it Ziva why didn't you just listen? No, this can't be happening.'_

As the pale and sickened looking forms of McGee and DiNozzo moved to handcuff the perps Gibbs caught sight of a slight movement and ran quickly across the storage container to Ziva.

"Ziva! Ziva!"

Ziva coughed harshly and mumbled something through the ball gag. Gibbs quickly reached round and undid it.

"Gibbs?"

Gibbs let out a sigh of relief. "It's okay Ziva," he assured her and her started to undo her bindings. "It's all going to be okay."

"Is she alright Boss?" Tony called worriedly.

"I'm fine Tony," Ziva called back as Gibbs helped her to her feet.

"For now," he added under his breath.

-NCISNCISNCISNCIS-

The ride back to NCIS was uncomfortable for many of the group. The three criminals were uncomfortable because Tony and Tim had made sure to be as violent as possible in the arrest and Ziva was uncomfortable because for the whole twenty minutes Gibbs asked her how she was feeling. Apparently undeterred by her mantra of 'I'm fine' he kept up a constant stream of questions the whole way to the office.

Finally, as he kept up the questions walking into the building, she snapped.

"I _said_ I am _fine_ Gibbs!"

He took her arm and pulled her into the elevator and slammed the stop button.

"You're fine? You have blood all over your face and clothes, I'm pretty sure you have a concussion, you were about two seconds away from death and you're trying to tell me that you're _fine_?"

"I _am_ fine!"

"I don't appreciate being lied to Ziva."

"I am_ not _lying! I'm _fine_! Just leave me the hell alone and stop being such an insufferable bastard!"

Before Ziva could comprehend what was happening Gibbs had grabbed her arm, spun her round and landed three hard smacks to her backside. Turning her back around he glared ferociously.

"You will watch your tone with me young lady. Is that clear?"

Ziva was to shocked to do anything but nod. Satisfied with this Gibbs pressed the stop switch again.

Ziva was mumbling under her breath in multiple languages. Unfortunately for her, one of these was Russian which Gibbs spoke fluently.

"Stupid man and his stupid unreasonable... OW!"

Gibbs had landed another, particularity hard, swat to her bottom.

"That, my dear child," he said sarcastically. "Was just the beginning."

'Crap," Ziva thought.


	5. Doctor's Orders

**I hope you enjoy this next instalment in Ziva's bad day.**

**Just to clarify, I'm not sure exactly when this is set but it's about season three/four but I may take some poetic licence with the time-scale of the show.**

**I still don't own NCIS but it's my birthday next week and. . .well, a girl can dream.**

Ziva was sat on a cold autopsy table as Ducky poked and prodded and scolded. She had tuned out some time ago and was now just staring absent mindedly, hoping he was nearly done.

"Ziva? Ziva? Are you listening to a word I'm saying?"

Ziva was very fond of Ducky and usually she would have felt quite embarrassed for not listening and apologised, however today her head hurt and she was angry and tired and not in the mood to be lectured by the elderly doctor and so her only reply was a curt, "No."

"No?" Ducky repeated disbelievingly.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I do not care what you think about what I did! It is my life and I do not need you to tell me what to do! You might as well just shut up because I do not care!"

Ducky was an incredibly patient man and it took a lot to make him angry but right now he was about as furious as he had ever been.

"Do you want to rethink that statement young lady?"

"Not really," Ziva replied rudely, glaring at Ducky for even thinking of calling her 'young lady'.

"Well then, yes it is your life but you were very silly and careless with it this morning and. . ."

"Oh just go to Hell!" Ziva yelled getting off the table and storming towards the door. A small part of her mind was telling her that this was a bad idea and that Ducky did not deserve this but this was eclipsed by the larger part of her mind that was just plain pissed at anyone and everyone regardless of what the had or had not done.

Unfortunately for Ziva, whilst Ducky was too stunned that she had spoken to him in that manner to say anything, Gibbs, who had been upstairs talking to Abby, had chosen that moment to come down to autopsy and had heard both of her outbursts.

Ziva had only put one foot outside of the doors before she felt someone grab her arm and drag her back across the room.

"Hey!" She protested loudly as she squirmed and struggled in his iron tight grip.

Having pulled her back over to where Ducky was standing, he lifted her up and deposited her less than gently on the table before standing over her and glaring ferociously.

"Apologize to Ducky."

There was silence.

"Ziva. . ." Gibbs warned.

"I do not want to apologize Gibbs! He was telling me off and it is none of his business. It is none of anyone's business but mine!" She erupted eventually.

Seeing that Gibbs looked about ready to shoot the young woman, Ducky put a hand on his arm and shook his head slightly. Gibbs stepped out of the way and Ducky took up position in front of Ziva.

"Look at me please Ziva," he instructed the woman, who was now looking down at her lap in a mixture of embarrassment, guilt and fear, all emotions she did not often experience and all emotions she was very uncomfortable with.

When she didn't comply Ducky took her chin in his hand and brought her head up to meet his gaze.

"I know it's your life Ziva, but we all care about you and that makes it our business when you make silly decisions that put you in jeopardy."

"But the suspect was going to get away and. . ."

"Ziva, I would prefer for you to let every suspect escape than for you to get yourself hurt."

Gibbs nodded his agreement, "You came damn close to getting killed today Ziver, no mission's worth your life."

Ziva looked between the two men with genuine confusion in her eyes. "But. . . but. . . I was always told that the mission was everything. That it was more important than anything else. That you should sacrifice anything if it means you get the job done."

"What kind of bastard would tell you that?" Gibbs blurted without thinking.

Ziva looked over to him and her voice was barely audible as she replied, "My father."

Gibbs and Ducky exchanged shocked glances. Gibbs walked over and pulled himself up onto the table beside her.

"Look Ziva," he said cautiously. "I don't know how things worked back in Israel, but here, when you're under my command, firstly, you follow orders, and secondly, you don't take unnecessary risks. Understood?"

"But it was not an unnecessary risk! I was doing my job!" She protested.

"No Ziva, you were doing whatever the hell you wanted to do. You _job_ is to follow my orders and to get what needs to be done done with the minimum number of casualties possible."

"But. . .I. . .I. . .I was doing what I thought was right."

"I get that, but there will never be an excuse to disobey my orders. If I tell you to hold position you will hold position. Got it."

"Got it," Ziva mumbled defeatedly.

Gibbs nodded, then turned to Ducky. "So what's the verdict Duck?"

"She is a very, very lucky girl. She hasn't obtained anything major but she has a rather nasty gash on her neck that may need stitches and I think you were right about the concussion but I think she should go to the hospital and get a CAT scan, just to make sure there's no serious damage."

Ziva heard the word hospital and immediately her head snapped up. "No. No, I do not want to."

Gibbs glared at her before looking back at Ducky. "I have a mountain of paperwork for this case but Abby's set up some tests and there's not a lot else she can do tonight so I'll get her to drive Ziva to the hospital."

"I can drive myself," Ziva said quickly.

"Not with a possible concussion you can't," Gibbs said firmly. "Thanks Duck."

"My pleasure Jethro, Ziva." Ducky replied with a nod and a smile. "Get well Ziva."

"I am well," she muttered irritatedly.

Ducky stifled a chuckle as he saw Gibbs swat Ziva's behind and she reacted involuntarily with a little yelp.

He smiled and shook his head as Ziva rubbed her backside and glared at Gibbs as the two exited autopsy. It seemed that their little family may have acquired a new member.

**I hope you enjoyed this. If you did, please review, and if you didn't well, review anyway and tell me why. **


	6. Accepted?

"Ziva!"

The moment Gibbs and Ziva exited the elevator, Abby had flung herself upon the Israeli who now found herself in a bone crushing hug.

"Abby! Abs! Be gentle, she's hurt," Gibbs said as he pulled Abby off.

"I am fine Gibbs," Ziva said for what felt like the thousandth time and Gibbs rolled his eyes as, just to make her point she stepped forward and embraced Abby.

Abby froze for a moment, not used to Ziva initiating hugs but then she wrapped her arms around her again.

"I was so worried! Are you sure you're alright?"

Ziva laughed. "I am fine."

Gibbs shook his head. _"How come when Abby asks how she is it's funny but if I ask it's the worst thing in the world?"_ he thought to himself.

"Well, that's debatable," he interrupted. "Ducky's worried she might have concussion. I have a huge of paperwork on my desk so do you think you could drive her up to Bethesda for a CAT scan Abby?" 

"Sure, just let me shut down my babies and I'll be ready to go."

Gibbs kissed her cheek. "Thanks Abs."

He turned to Ziva, expecting her to argue. She was about to kick up a major fuss when she realised who she was being left with and that her chances of convincing Abby that she was fine were a hell of a lot better than her chances of convincing Gibbs.

Gibbs felt a little unnerved by the smirk that appeared on her face. "You sure you'll be okay?" he asked Abby.

"Of course I will," she replied.

He nodded and turned back to Ziva. "Behave," he instructed before turning and heading for the elevator. "Oh, and Abs?"

"Yeah?"

"Bring her back to my place afterwards, I want to keep an eye on her tonight."

It took some serious willpower for Ziva to force herself not to argue with that but she concluded that she could cope with staying at Gibbs' for a night if it meant that she could get out of going to the hospital.

Abby nodded, "Will do Boss."

"Thanks," he repeated and left.

"Right, I'm all ready. Shall we go?" Abby asked, grabbing her bag from the desk.

Ziva nodded and followed Abby to the parking garage, having decided to get away from the Navy yard, and more importantly from Gibbs, before making her case to Abby.

They were a few blocks away from the hospital when Ziva asked Abby to pull over. Abby complied and looked at Ziva worriedly.

"What's the matter? Do you feel sick?"

Ziva shook her head. "No, and see, that's just the thing I do not feel unwell. Not one little bit. And truly, going to the hospital would be a waste of both our and the doctor's time."

Abby looked unsure. "Well, Gibbs wants you to go and so does Ducky and he's a doctor."

"I know Abby but I really _do_ feel fine and I do not like hospitals. I have not had good experiences of hospitals."

Abby sighed. "Yeah, well, who does? But. . ."

"Abby, come on, please. I know you did not like me when I first came here but we are kind of like friends now yes?"

"What? We're not kind of like friends Ziva! We _are_ friends!"

Ziva felt a warm glow gush through her at Abby's words. After her months of trying to fit it this confirmation of acceptance made her happy.

She smiled. "Thank you Abby. You truly have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that. I have never really cared about people not liking me in the past but I really did not like it when you hated me. I am glad that you consider me a friend."

"Aww Zi! I never hated you! I was just upset about Kate, I shouldn't have taken it out on you, it wasn't your fault."

There was a moment of silence as Ziva grinned happily. Abby sighed.

"Do you really not want to go to the hospital?"

"I really do not. I detest people sticking needles in my arm and poking and prodding at me."

"Yeah, I get that," Abby said with a smile.

"I know, I saw the fuss you kicked up when Gibbs tried to take you to Ducky after you hit your head on your fridge last week."

Abby blushed, "Yes, well. . . What are we supposed to tell Gibbs?"

Ziva's eyes lit up. "You will help me?"

Abby nodded. "Yeah, sure I will. But really what do we tell Gibbs?"

"That we went to the hospital and the CAT scan was negative and I am fine."

Abby nodded. "Okay, I'll help you."

Ziva flung herself across the car and hugged Abby. Abby laughed. "You must really not want to go to the hospital. That's the second time you've hugged me in ten minutes."

Ziva smiled a little sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Don't be. It's nice to see you exhibiting emotion and this is like the first time we've done something together. Like a sister-y thing. Tricking 'Dad' and 'Grandpa'."

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what'?"

"What do you mean about 'sister' and 'Dad'?"

"Do you seriously not get it?"

Ziva shook her head.

"Well, you know how worried Gibbs was about you earlier?"

"Yes."

"Well, a boss might be worried but not _that_ worried. That was Dad worried."

"Dad worried? Maybe he is like a father to you but I. . .I am. . ."

"A part of our family now too," Abby interrupted enthusiastically.

"I do not know Abby."

"You are. We were all so scared when we heard you got hurt and you don't get that scared about someone you don't love. And you defiantly don't stick your ass on the line like I'm gonna do for someone you don't love."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Thank you Abby."

"Any time sis," Abby replied as she began to pull away.

Ziva leant back against the seat and smiled her first real smile in months. Whilst she was not sure how right Abby was about how Gibbs felt, it was nice to imagine that it was true. That he did feel that way. That she was part of a family.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review! **


	7. I Think My Name Is Probably Ziva

**Sad as it is, I was not given the rights to NCIS for my birthday, but hey, there's always Christmas.**

Gibbs opened his, as usual, unlocked door to hear giggles coming from the living room. He stuck his head through the door to see that Ziva and Abby had evidentially dug out the stack of old board games that he didn't know why we kept in the cabinet in his living room and were now involved in a rambunctious game of snakes and ladders.

Abby punched her fist in the air and sang happily. "I got a ladder! I got a ladder! I'm gonna beat you! I'm gonna beat you!"

"No way! You're going down Scuito!"

Both the girls burst out laughing at the corny trash talk and Gibbs shook his head at their childishness, though in truth he enjoyed hearing their laughter, his house had been quiet too long.

"Are you two hungry?" Gibbs asked, making the women jump. He held up the bag he was carrying. "I figured you'd still be here Abby so I got takeout."

Abby and Ziva jumped up and followed him into the kitchen.

"So what did the doctor say?"

"No more than Ducky told us. Just that I should stay with someone tonight," Ziva replied and Abby's mouth almost dropped open with the smoothness of her lie. When Abby lied, or more accurately tried to lie, she always stuttered and faltered and no one ever believed her.

"Okay," Gibbs nodded. "Go fetch some plates and cutlery."

Ziva grinned at Abby as they headed for the drawers. "Told you it would be fine," she whispered.

"Mmmhmm. . ." Was Abby's only response. In truth she was starting to worry about this. In her experience, Gibbs _always_ found out when they did something wrong, and she had a lot of experience.

As they ate dinner though, Abby's worries began to diminish slightly as Gibbs showed no signs of doubting them. Unfortunately the worries were soon replaced by guilt, she hated lying to Gibbs but she hated the way she'd behaved towards Ziva even more and if this was how she could try to make it up to her, she was prepared to deal with it.

As soon as dinner was cleared up Gibbs reached his first hurdle with Ziva. Bedtime. It was only half past nine but she'd had a difficult day and a nasty bump on the head and she needed to sleep, but something told him she wasn't likely to agree.

"Abby, not wanting to kick you out or anything, but it's about time Ziva went to bed."

Before Abby could reply Ziva was out of her seat, fury clear in her eyes.

"Bed? Gibbs! It is only half past nine! And I am not a little child! You can't tell me to go to bed! I decide when I go to bed! I am an adult and fully capable of making my own decisions!

Abby smirked. "Have fun Gibbs!"

He glared at her and she kissed his cheek.

"Bye Ziva!"

"Goodbye Abby," Ziva replied before continuing her rant.

Part of Abby wanted to stick around at see how this interaction between her "father" and her "big sister" played out but the more sensible part of her told her that she didn't really want to get caught up in this.

"See you tomorrow," she called as she shut the door behind her. She would have some serious questions for Ziva in the morning.

Back in the kitchen Gibbs heard the front door shut and turned to face Ziva who was still in the midst of a furious tirade.

"Ziva."

She ignored him and continued to fume.

"Ziva!" He repeated, the warning clear in his voice.

Again, she ignored him.

Gibbs had never taken well to being ignored and was just about at the end of his tether.

Ziva yelped as she felt Gibbs' hard hand collide with the seat of her pants for the third time that day .

"Would you stop doing that?" She snapped.

"I wouldn't have to do it if you would listen to me," he replied.

Ziva didn't have an answer for this and so settled for glaring at him.

"Now that I've got your attention, I would first like to make it clear that if you _ever_ speak to me like that again you will be straight across my knee, whether Abby or anyone else is here."

Ziva's mouth fell open. "You can't do that! I'm not a child Gibbs!"

"So you keep saying, and I know that you're not but sometimes you act like you have the mental maturity of one. You clearly have lacked in parental guidance in numerous aspects of your life and I intend to correct that. I don't know what was expected of you in Israel but you work for me now and I will not stand for you behaving like you did today. Is that clear?"

"But. . .but. . .you are my boss. Surely if you wish to punish me you should suspend me or put me on desk duty. Yes?"

"I don't believe in paper punishments. What good are you to the team at home or at your desk? This way it's over and done with and we can move on. And you will not be the first NCIS agent to take a trip across my knee, nor will you be the last."

Ziva was silent for a few moments as she processed this information. "Tony?"

Gibbs nodded.

"Tim?"

He nodded again.

She was silent a few moments more and then a grin spread across her face. "Jenny?"

Gibbs couldn't help it. He laughed. "She'll kill me for telling you this but, yes. She was a hotheaded little thing when she first joined NCIS. So determined to do the right thing that she didn't consider the danger she put herself in with some of her stunts. Not unlike you actually."

Ziva considered this for a moment. "Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you do it? Wouldn't it be much easier to deal with this sort of thing by putting blue marks on our files?"

"Black marks," he corrected. "And yes. It would. And if it was anyone else I probably would, but I care about my team and I don't want to hinder their careers over silly mistakes. And I don't want to hinder yours either."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you not want to hinder my career? I am not even really NCIS."

"Ziva you. . ."

"You do not need to lie to make me feel better. I know how it is. I am just the woman who's standing where Kate should be. Only of professional worth, not personal and that's okay. I have never needed anyone before and I do not need anyone now. So you can just put a black mark on my file. It is okay."

"Ziva, everybody needs someone."

"I do not. Abby told me today that you are like a father to the team. I have only been here a couple of months, I do not need or want to invade on your family unit."

"You're not invading anything Ziva."

"Yes I am."

Gibbs ran a hand through his hair. He hadn't anticipated it being quite so difficult to get through to her.

"Ziva, earlier today, when we lost connection with you and I realised what you'd done. I was so worried. Not worried that I would lose an agent, but worried that I would lose a daughter. Because you may not have been here long but you've made a huge impression on all our lives. You are as much part of this dysfunctional little family we've got going on as Tony or Abby or anyone else is. We care about you Ziver and I will take you across me knee and lay into your backside everyday before I'll bury you. I love you too much to let you risk your life like you did today."

Tears had come to Ziva's eyes during this speech and when he reached the end of it the dam broke and they began to run down her cheeks. Gibbs hugged her and placed a kiss on the top of her head which only made her cry harder.

"Nobody. . .nobody," she hiccuped. "Nobody has told me that. . .that they love me. . . in so long. The last time was. . . was just before Ari left Israel he told me. . .he was sorry that he had to go. .and that. . .that he loved me. My fa. .father. . .has not told me. . .he lo. . .loves me. . .since my. . .little sister. . .Tal. . .Tali died. . .four. . .four years ago."

Gibbs held the young woman close as she cried. He didn't speak, but no words were required. Just being there. Allowing her to cry was enough.

Eventually her sobs lessened and he released her. She rubbed her eyes and he smiled at her. "You've had a hard day. Go get ready for bed and get some sleep. We can deal with things tomorrow."

She nodded and began to walk out of the room.

"Ziva?" She turned to face him and he held out his hand.

"I'll take your gun."

"Why?"

"Because you might be concussed so I'll be checking of you every hour or so and I don't want you to accidentally shoot me."

At this Ziva's defiant side reared it's head again and she muttered, "Who said it would be an accident?"

Gibbs' sharp ears picked this up and he glared at her. "Would you prefer that we deal with what happened right now?"

"No," she answered quickly.

"Good. Gun."

She placed it into his hand. "Can I go now?"

"Well, seeing as I don't fancy getting stabbed either I'll take your knives as well."

Ziva huffed and began to dig knives out of various obscure places. "You are aware that I do not need these, yes? I have killed men with credit cards and ballpoint pens in the past."

"Then I will be sure to remove all credit cards and biros from my guest room. You have another knife Ziva."

"What happened to rule number nine?"

"I would wager the likelihood of you needing a knife tonight is quite slim."

She glared at him defiantly. "What if a crazed axe murderer jumps through the window?"

"Did you not just tell me that you've killed with bits of plastic and pens? I'm sure you'll manage."

Ziva turned and stormed towards the door, muttering as she went. "What if I have to defend myself from an annoying, interfering old man?"

Gibbs shook his head. "You're treading on thin ice little girl. _Very_ thin ice."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NCISNCISNCISNCIS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ziva? Are you awake?"

"No."

"Very funny."

Gibbs came to sit by her bed. "I'm going to ask you some questions to check you don't have amnesia. Okay?"

"I don't have amnesia."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I remember that you're an extremely irritating man."

"Quite the comedian tonight aren't we?"

"Yes, I am. That was three questions. Are you done?"

Gibbs sighed. "What's your name?"

There was no reply.

"Ziva? Ziva! What's your name?"

"Well," she replied eventually. "That's a tough one but since you just called me Ziva, I think. . .I'm not completely sure but I _think _my name is probably Ziva."

"Cut the sarcasm. What's your job?"

"I am a bunny rabbit."

"Ziva. Be sensible. Where are you from?"

"The planet Zorg."

Gibbs took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose trying to keep control of his temper. "What's my name?"

"Satan."

That was where his patience ended . He grabbed her shoulder, turned her onto her stomach and landed three hard smacks to her pyjama clad bottom. Then spun her back over.

"What's my name?"

"Stalin."

He spun her over and smacked her again. "I don't know what you think you're going to achieve being a smartass but I can promise you, it will not be pleasant. Where are you now?"

She couldn't resist one last dig. "Hell."

He swatted her backside again.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! I am sorry! I am at your house!"

"See, that wasn't so hard was it?"

"Are you going to smack me again if I say yes?"

He raised his eyebrows and she sighed.

"No, no it was not."

"Good. Be more co-operative next time please. It will make it much easier for both of us."

Ziva nodded. "Okay. I am sorry Gibbs. I just do not like to be bossed around or fussed over."

"You and me both. But if I boss you around it's only to protect you and if I fuss over you it's only because I care about you."

"It is kind of nice to be cared about," she mumbled sleepily as she shut her eyes.

"It is," he agreed and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight Ziva."

"Goodnight Daddy."

And for the first time in a long time, Ziva David fell asleep feeling truly happy.

**I'm sorry about the delay in updating this story but I hope you enjoyed it, please review!**


	8. The Morning After The Night Before

I'm going to have to break rule #6 here and apologise for how long it took to update, I went on holiday and, well, I'm sorry but even Fan-fiction is not worth a £50 a day Wi-Fi fee. Anyway, I hope this chapter was worth the wait, enjoy!

Ziva woke up the next morning to find her head hurting even more than it had the day before. She rolled over and yelped as she realised that her head was not the only part of her anatomy that was sore.

She groaned and swung her legs out of the bed. Her head immediately began to hurt more and she felt dizzy but, never one to give in to illness, she forced herself to stand up. She shook and stumbled as she grabbed her wash bag and made her way to the door but she managed to get there. She stuck her head out of the room to check that the coast was clear, then sprinted across the hall into the bathroom.

This turned out to be a big mistake as she slipped and came very close to smacking her head against the bathtub, letting out an involuntary yelp as she fell.

She froze, sat on the bathroom floor, and held her breath as she listened for any signs of Gibbs approaching. Thankfully for her, he was in the basement and was completely oblivious to just how bad Ziva was.

Ziva pulled herself to her feet, gripping the side of the tub for support, and looked in the mirror. She looked like hell. Her face was white, save for the dark patches under her eyes, some of her hair was matted to her forehead by a sheen of sweat and the rest of it was sticking up in every direction like a haystack.

Half-an-hour, a hot bath, half-a-ton of hairspray and more make-up than she usually wore in a week and she could almost pass as human. Clutching the banister tightly she made her way downstairs.

"Gibbs?"

"In the kitchen."

Ziva entered the kitchen to the smell of eggs and strong coffee that made her stomach flip and it took a huge amount of self control for her to not throw up.

"Sit down, the eggs will be done in a minute and there's some toast under the grill."

"Thank you for the offer but I am not really a breakfast person, I will just have a glass of wat. . ."

Gibbs turned to glare at her. "Was there something in my tone of voice that made that sound like a request?"

"No, but. . ."

"Then sit down and eat." 

"But Gibbs I. . ."

"It's not up for discussion. Sit."

Ziva faltered at his tone for only a moment. "No."

That was not something that Gibbs was expecting.

"No."

"No. You cannot make me do something I do not want to do."

At this she turned on her heel and marched out of the door. This dramatic exit was somewhat ruined by her stumbling just past the doorway. A moment before she hit the floor she felt a pair of strong arms grab her and lift her up.

Irritated at having to be rescued Ziva made to continue her storming off but quickly realised that her feet were no longer connected to the floor and that she was being carried across the kitchen to the table. As soon as she realized this she began to kick.

Gibbs shook his head as he felt Ziva's heels bang against his shins. He had worked with some defiant people over the years, Abby and DiNozzo being prime examples, but this little madame really took the biscuit.

"HEY!"

Ziva jumped and ceased her kicking long enough for Gibbs to get her in a chair.

"Gibbs! How dare. . . What right do you. . . How can. . . I am not a child Gibbs!"

"When I'm in charge of you Ziva, whether you're eight or eighty, you will do as you're told or you'll damn well face the consequences."

Ziva's pride told her to continue the argument but now that she was sat down she was even more aware of the pain left over from the night before and, not keen to reignite it, she relented.

It was only as Ziva was picking at her food that she happened to glance up at the clock.

"Gibbs! It's 10:15! We should have been at the office hours ago!"

"Relax Ziva. I spoke to the Director and she told me not to come in until this afternoon after we've. . .dealt with things."

"What do you mean 'dealt with things'?"

"I mean after we've dealt with your direct disobedience yesterday."

"What do you mean 'dealt' with it?"

Gibbs raised his eyebrows trying to work out if she was dense or defiant. Settling on the latter he bent down so he was eye level with her.

"I mean after I have put you across my knee and spanked your backside for being so damn idiotic!"

A statement like this said by a pissed of Gibbs to any of his other 'children' would have had them shaking and babbling. Ziva however simply took another mouthful of egg.

"No," she said calmly when she had swallowed.

"No?"

"No. Even if I were to allow you to spank me, which I am not, I would bend over the table. There is no way I would ever allow you to put me across your knee like a little _child_."

"_Allow_ me? I'm sorry to break it to you Ziva but you have not got the authority to allow or not allow me to do anything. However, if you are that set against it, you may have a choice."

"A choice?"

"Yes, either I spank you or you return to Tel-Aviv."

"What?" Ziva wasn't quite sure what she'd been expecting but it certainly was not that.

"It's your decision, but I'd advise you to think carefully. Once you've made you choice, there's no going back, no matter how loud or violently you might protest. You've got ten minutes. Finish your breakfast, then if you want to leave, leave. If not, I'll be in the basement."

Before she could say a word he had left. Ziva truly had no idea what to do.

On the one hand, submitting to such a degrading, humiliating and no doubt painful punishment went totally against the grain and every ounce of self pride that she had was screaming at her to get out.

But on the other hand, she did not want to go back to Tel-Aviv. For everything she may have thought about America and her people in general and about Team Gibbs in particular when she first arrived, since she had been here she had found life to be good and began to consider the team as her friends and, dare she say it, even her family and she was not ready to return to the cold, distantness of Mossad.

Having thought this she realised what she had to do and so, even though it went against her instincts and everything she had ever bee taught, she put her plate in the sink, took a deep breath and prepared to face the music.

**Please read and review and, if you somehow managed to miss the oh so subtle hints:**

**WARNING! Next chapter WILL contain spanking! If that's not your thing then you're pretty stupid to have read this far in the first place but please STOP reading here! Thank you.**


	9. Guilty Conscience

**WARNING! This chapter contains the kind of consensual spanking of an adult. If this isn't your thing, stop reading. If it is, enjoy!**

"Gibbs?"

Gibbs put down the sanding block he was holding and looked up. Ziva was standing at the top of the stairs, her head bowed slightly and her hair hiding her face. She looked more like a nervous child than the defiant assassin he'd been dealing with a few minutes previously.

"You've made your choice?"

She nodded.

"You're completely sure?"

Another nod and Gibbs pulled the stool from under the nearby workbench.

"Then come here."

Ziva's resolve faltered slightly and she didn't move.

"Now Ziva." His voice didn't raise but there was something in his tone that made Ziva hurry down the stairs as fast as she could without falling, gripping the bannister as she went. This didn't escape Gibbs' notice and when she reached him he placed the back of his hand gently on her forehead.

"Are you feeling alright Ziva?"

"Yes Gibbs, I am fine."

Gibbs wasn't convinced but she didn't look to bad so he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Okay," he sat on the stool. "Come here."

"Gibbs, don't you think you're being a bit over dramatic? I mean, this is ridiculous, it's not like I did anything _that_ bad!"

Gibbs stared at her incredulously. "Not like you did anything that bad? Ziva, you disobeyed a direct order and in doing so got yourself severely injured and almost killed!"

"Okay, so it sounds bad when you put it like that but. . ."

"It was bad, however I put it," he interrupted, getting up off the stool to come and stand in front of her. "Ziva, can you honestly tell me that you don't deserve this?"

"Okay! So I will admit that maybe it was not my best decision and I should have listened to you but this. . . this is barbaric! We are not living in the dark ages Gibbs!"

"So have you changed your mind? Would you rather return to Israel?"

"NO! I never said that! But surely there must be another way to. . ."

"Okay, so you would prefer for me to write you up then Ziva? I will if that's what you really want but I'm warning you, a black mark in your record for disobeying orders in the field is not going to look good."

"No, I do not want that either."

"We're running out of options here Ziva, what do you propose we do?"

"I do not know!" She yelled.

Gibbs glared at her warningly and tears came into her eyes.

"I do not know," she repeated quietly. "But I do not want. . . I can not. . . I have never. . ."

Suddenly Gibbs realised what the problem might be.

"Ziva?"

"Yes Gibbs."

"If you had disobeyed your. . . your father and it had got you hurt, what do you think he would have done?"

"I did once," Ziva said with a sigh. "I was twelve and Ari was sixteen. Ari had been out in the woods near our home with his friends all summer and I had been stuck at home desperate to go with him, but my father would not allow it because they were climbing the really tall trees and he said that I was too little to do that yet.

"After a week, I could not take it any longer and when my father went to a meeting I begged Ari to take me with him. He was reluctant at first, he was worried about me too, but he was still young enough to know what it was like to be left out of things and eventually he took pity on me and brought me to the woods. It was brilliant at first but then Ari and his friends started swinging from one tree to the next. Ari told me not to because I was too small but I did not listen to him.

"I almost made it, but my fingers slipped at the last second and I fell. Ari was distraught. He kept blaming himself but I told him it was not his fault, he had told me not to try and swing but I had ignored him. The problem was that my father agreed with Ari. When we got back from the hospital, Abba took Ari into his study. He told him that he was the oldest and the boy and that he should have stopped me. He beat Ari with his belt, so hard that he could not sit down for a week and he had red marks on his back for ages after that.

"But even though he had punished Ari so severely and even though I was the one who had disobeyed both my father and my brother, Abba never even told me off. I did not want to get whipped per se, but I wished that my father had punished me somehow because I felt horribly guilty that Ari had got in trouble for something I had done, but also, I felt that Abba did not care that I had been hurt. I have never forgiven myself for disobeying Ari that day and getting him so badly beaten."

She looked close to tears at the end of this story and Gibbs' heart was breaking at this revelation from the childhood she never talked about.

"Did your father ever punish you for doing something wrong?"

Ziva shook her head.

"Ziva, what your father did. . . it's not right. But that is his fault, not yours. I can understand why you would feel guilty for what happened to Ar. . .your brother, but it was not your fault that your father was a barbaric bastard who didn't care enough to show you right from wrong or to punish your brother with even an ounce of humanity. But Ziva, you need to put the past behind you and move on. Accept that you were just a little girl and that there was nothing you could have done to change what happened, and know that, even if you lacked parental guidance as a child, you have me and Jenny and Ducky now who all care more than enough about you to put you on the right path and not let you get away with reckless behaviour like swinging through trees, because trust me baby girl, if you ever think about doing that your backside will be just as sore as your brothers was!"

Ziva giggled slightly and Gibbs smiled.

"But, notice that it will only be your backside that hurts. I promise that I will never smack you anywhere else. There's a line between discipline and abuse and I will not cross it, I promise. You can trust me Ziva. This will hurt for a while but there will be no lasting damage and when we're done here it's all over and you have no need to feel guilty any more. Okay?" He held his hand out to her.

Nervously, she put her small hand into his large one and nodded. "Okay."

He sat down on the stool and pulled Ziva down over his knee and, before either of them could get cold feet, he raised his hand and brought it down sharply on her backside.

That first swat hurt more than Ziva had anticipated but she didn't make a sound, due to the fact that she'd put her fist up to her mouth and was biting down on her knuckle.

After the first few smacks Gibbs asked. "Do you understand why you're getting this spanking?"

Ziva nodded.

"Not good enough Ziva," he said swatting her again. "Use your words."

"Wesh Gibsh."

"Ziva? What on earth?"

Seeing her fist in her mouth he sighed.

"Ziva, get your hand out of your mouth. For the millionth time, you don't have to be scared to cry in front of me."

"Shorry Gibsh."

"Hand."

Reluctantly she removed her hand and Gibbs took her wrist and pulled her hand up behind her back, holding it in place with one of his hands whilst continuing to smack her with the other.

With her hand gone, Ziva found it much harder to remain stoic and within five more swat she was beginning to yelp. Soon the yelps turned to pleading and squirming as the tears began to fall down her cheeks.

Eventually, exhausted, she stopped squirming and lay across Gibbs' lap sobbing. Gibbs stopped smacking and rubbed circles onto her back.

Ziva didn't understand how the hand that just moments before had inflicted so much pain into her tender posterior could now be comforting her so gently. It was strange but nice.

Gibbs picked her up and sat her on his lap holding her as she cried. When she regained enough composure to be aware of anything except the pain she found that Gibbs was right. She no longer felt guilty for disobeying him at the storage unit, she had well and truly had her comeuppance for that. Unfortunately, after he had been so nice to her it had been replaced by guilt for lying and deceiving him.

"Ziva?"

"Yes Gibbs?"

"This cut on your neck, it hasn't been stitched up."

"Oh, that. Well, they said at the hospital that it was in too awkward a place to stitch up and that it wasn't too bad and should just heal itself up." Not guilty enough, it seemed to take the anger she was sure Gibbs would emit if he found out about her lies.

"Okay," he didn't sound convinced but he was trusting her word. That just made her feel so much worse.

He kissed the top of her head gently. "You know you're forgiven now, don't you?"

"Yes Gibbs."

He nodded. "I love you sweetheart."

"I love you too."

**A big thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far! Keep 'em coming! **


	10. NoOne By That Name

**Disclaimer: I still don't own NCIS. The possibility of me ever owning it is about the same as the possibility of Tony being gay and dating Agent Sacks.**

"Ziva? Are you ready to go?"

"Coming Gibbs!" Ziva called down. She lay on her front on the bed, put the pillow over her head and groaned into the mattress. It had been about an hour and a half since Gibbs had spanked her and in that time two significant things had happened.

The slight bit of guilt that she had felt for deceiving Gibbs had grown until it made her feel physically sick and the pain in her head and the back of her neck had intensified to the extent that she was almost regretting not just going to the stupid hospital. Almost.

But if there was one thing that Ziva David was good at it was keeping up a façade. She hid the guilt and the pain behind the stoic mask that she had perfected over a multitude of years and Gibbs did not seem at all suspicious.

However, as the day progressed and the guilt and pain increased, her act began to slip until she gabbled something about ballistics and headed down to the one place that she could let the mask go.

Jenny was in the elevator when Ziva entered and Ziva flashed her the best smile she could muster up under the circumstances and Jenny returned the smile. As the elevator jolted slightly, Ziva grabbed the bar on the wall to steady herself and Jenny saw her wince.

"Are you okay Ziva?" She asked, putting a hand on her elbow to support her.

"I'm fine!" Ziva replied quickly, shaking Jenny's arm off and jumping out as soon as the elevator reached the lab.

Unfortunately for Ziva, Jenny had known her for years and could tell that there was something off in her behaviour. Pulling the stop switch as the elevator began it's accent, Jenny tapped a number into her cell.

"Hello? Is this Bethesda Naval Hospital?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NCISNCISNCISNCIS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ziva walked into Abby's lab and immediately collapsed onto the futon, crying out as her still sore bottom made contact with the thin mattress. Flipping over onto her stomach, she started to cry.

An astounded Abby shut off her music and made her way over to the futon.

"Ziva? What's wrong?"

"I am so sorry Abby! I never should have brought you into this, but I do not know how long I can keep this up for. I have never felt so guilty about lying to someone, not ever! But this time I just. . .I just feel so _awful_!"

"Yeah, it sucks doesn't it?" Abby agreed sitting down next to her.

Ziva nodded. "I'll say. And my head and my neck hurt so bad! I feel like I am _dying_ Abby!"

"Yeah, but there's nothing e can do about it now except hope it blows over soon. Have you ever heard the expression 'we've made our beds so now we'll have to sleep in them?'"

"No." 

"What about the expression 'it's time to face the music?'"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NCISNCISNCISNCIS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jenny's phone call with Bethesda had been very revealing. After being put on hold for ages and listening to several machines she was finally talking to a real live person.

"Hello, this is Bethesda Naval Hospital. What can I do for you?" 

"I'd like to speak with the doctor who treated Ziva David yesterday please."

There was a moment of silence.

"Treated who?"

"Ziva David."

"Could you spell that for me please?"

"Z-I-V-A D-A-V-I-D."

Another moment of silence.

"I'm sorry ma'am but we've had no patients of that name admitted in the last two weeks."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay, I'm sorry to have wasted your time."

'Oh, I am so going to kill those girls!' she thought furiously.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please R&R!**


	11. Grandpa Ducky

Hearing Jenny's words the two younger women's heads snapped up.

"Uh..." Abby stammered. "What...what do you...uh...do you mean?"

"I mean, Abigail, that I just got off of the phone with Bethesda and they have no record of Ziva being admitted yesterday."

"What!" Ziva exclaimed. "Why were you speaking to Bethesda?"

Jenny rounded on her angrily. "Because, Agent David, I was worried about you and I wanted to speak to your doctor! But as it has emerged you didn't actually _see_ a doctor, I. . ."

Jenny shook her head in disbelief. "You've done some foolhardy, even downright dangerous, things in your time Ziva but these last couple of days you've really out done yourself! You could have been killed yesterday! And then to not go and see a doctor? I am truly disappointed in you Ziva."

Abby looked sympathetically at her friend.

"And you Abigail! You knew what Ziva wanted to do was wrong and yet you endangered her health and disobeyed direct orders! I have never been more disappointed in the two of you!"

Jenny gave them a few moments to think that over, tears forming in both their eyes, before she made them jump with her command.

"Stand up!"

"Wha. . ."

"Up! Now!"

Neither of the two had ever heard Jenny sound that angry before and they jumped to attention.

Jenny came to stand beside Ziva and gave her backside three hard swats. Abby tried to drop back onto the futon to protect her bottom but Jenny grabbed her arm and dealt her the same three smacks she had given Ziva, before grabbing their upper arms in hands and dragging them out towards the elevator.

A new NCIS recruit who was bringing a box of evidence down to the lab stop dead in shock at the sight before him.

The Director of NCIS was storming along the corridor in a rage dragging the Gothic forensic expert, who was at least a foot taller than she was, and the MCRT member who he'd heard had been transferred from a Matrix style training facility in the Middle East and had once killed a terrorist with just a piece of paper whilst handcuffed to a bed.

He watched the elevator doors shut behind the pissed off Director and the protesting agent and scientist and shook his head. What kind of agency did he work for?

In the elevator, Jenny's temper had not gotten any better.

"Are we going to see Gibbs?" Abby asked finally.

"No, he's not the only one you two disobeyed yesterday."

Ziva and Abby exchanged confused glances then groaned as the elevator doors opened to reveal autopsy.

Immediately the pair increased their struggles. A pissed off Gibbs was one thing but a pissed off Ducky. . .that was uncharted water, and not water that either of the girls fancied sailing into any time soon.

As they reached the doors however, they stopped their struggles in favour of looking at their feet to avoid Ducky's gaze which was a terrifying combination of angry and disappointed.

Ducky walked over to them. "Of all the ridiculous, dangerous, disobedient things! I cannot believe that you tow would do something like this! Was I in anyway unclear about telling you to go to the hospital yesterday? Were you in any doubt as to what I wanted you to do?"

"No sir," they replied n unison.

Ducky stepped closer and, like Jenny, gave them each three hard whacks on the bottom.

"Ouch! Ow! Stop!" Abby cried as she was given hers.

"Don't make such a fuss Abigail! That was merely a warm up to what Jethro is sure to dole out to you in the near future."

The girls blanched. Sometime in the midst of being scolded by Jenny and then scolded by Ducky, they'd completely forgotten that they had the scariest of the bunch still left to face.

"Have you told Gibbs?" Abby asked worriedly.

"Nope," Jenny replied shaking her head.

She gave them just enough time to sigh in relief before she finished her sentence.

"Because you're going to!"

"No!"

"Jenny!"

"Come on!"

"That's just cruel!"

"You can't do that!"

Ducky and Jenny exchanged a look before Jenny began to drag them back towards the elevator.

Ducky laughed as, for the second time in as many days, he watched a surrogate granddaughter be hauled from the room, this time by their angry 'mother'. Their family just kept growing!


	12. Telling Gibbs

Gibbs looked at his watch for about the fiftieth time. Ziva had gone down to the lab more than forty-five minuets ago and was still not back and, truth be told, he was worried about her. She insisted that she was fine but she was looking very pale and vulnerable. He was beginning to regret not making her take the whole day off, although he wasn't sure if his sanity could survive that.

A sudden yell of "Tony!" drew him out of his musings and he looked up to see McGee with his hands stuck to his keyboard. . .again.

"DiNozzo! That's getting old, quit it! McGee! You're one of the smartest people I've ever met, can you not check the damn keyboard before you put your fingers on it?" He threw a bottle at Tony. "Help him DiNozzo!"

"Damn it!" Abby muttered as she and Ziva were dragged through the squad room, much to the amusement of their co-workers. "He sounds mad already, Jenny this is silly. Gibbs doesn't need to know about. . ."

"Don't even bother finishing that sentence Abigail Scuito! He does need to know and there is no way I'm keeping it from him!"

Giving one last sharp pull Jenny yanked the women in to the bullpen to face three astonished males.

"Jenny? What's going on?"

"Good afternoon Jethro. I believe your 'daughters' have something they want to tell you."

Gibbs turned to face the two women. "Girls?"

"Um, it's nothing. It doesn't matter. Sorry to waste your time." Abby babbled, attempting to leave. But as she turned around she was met with one very pissed off Jennifer Sheppard.

"Tell him! Now!"

"Um, uh, you see. . ." Ziva stuttered.

"Well, I. . .um. . .we. . .uh."

"We don't have all day! Out with it!"

"'. . ." Abby gabbled and the exact moment that Ziva spoke.

"'snotherfault."

"Okay, okay," Gibbs said shaking his head. "Say that slower and one at a time."

At a barely audible level Ziva whispered, "I did not go to the hospital yesterday."

There was a moment of silence.

"You. . .did not. . .go. . .to the hospital?" Gibbs said slowly and quietly.

Ziva shook her head, "I did not need to. I felt fine and. . ."

"YOU DIDN'T NEED TO?" Gibbs thundered. "YOU SUFFERED A SEVERE HEAD TRAUMA! YOU ALMOST DIED! YOU DAMN WELL DID NEED TO!"

Ziva stepped back slightly. "I. . .I. . .I did not mean. . ."

"I don't even want to hear it Ziva. Jen? Are you busy?"

"Not at all."

"Take her to the hospital will you?"

"Of course."

"Gibbs! What part of 'I am fine' do you not under. . ."

"ZIVA! You are in more than enough trouble as it is! I highly suggest you be quiet. You two, stay here. Jethro, can I speak to you for a moment?"

As the two older adults left the bull pen, Tony got up and sauntered over to his two, now very nervous looking colleges.

"Oooh! Someone's in trouble! Two someones actually!"

"Shut up Tony!" Ziva said to clenched teeth.

"Why're you looking so worried Zee-vah? Scared of a little spanking are ya?"

"I am NOT scared! Shut UP Tony!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NCISNCISNCISNCIS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What do you want to talk about Jen?" Gibbs asked as they reached the stairs.

"I just think that we need to be on the same page in terms of what we're going to do about this. This is serious Jethro."

"No kidding. And as for what I'm going to do about it, I'm going to tan both their backsides, Abby first, Ziva when she gets back from the hospital, till they never even think about disobeying me again, let alone lying about it." He shook his head. "What were they _thinking_?"

"I don't kn. . ." Jenny was cut off by a sudden eruption of sound from the bullpen.

"I am NOT scared! Shut UP Tony!"

Jenny sighed. "Oh dear, here we go again."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NCISNCISNCISNCIS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the five or six seconds that it took Gibbs and Jenny to run back to the bullpen a large crowd of interested looking agents had gathered. The two shoved their way though to be met with the alarming sight of a massive fight taking place. All four of their little miscreants were involved as well as a fifth body who Gibbs couldn't quite see.

"How the hell did Jimmy Palmer get involved in this?" Jenny whispered in his ear.

"That's Jimmy Palmer?"

Jenny nodded.

Gibbs shook his head. The entire balance of natural life seemed to have been turned on it's head today.

"HEY!" Gibbs yelled, and a frozen silence descended on the room as everyone stopped talking and moving.

At any other time the situation would have been hilarious. Tony was sat on top of Abby's back and she had her arms wrapped around his neck and appeared to be trying to bang his head into the floor. Tim was led on his back beside them and was trying to drag Tony off. Tony was grabbing on to Jimmy's jumper. Jimmy had his foot wedged awkwardly under McGee whilst pulling on handful's of Ziva's hair as she attempted to climb over him to get to Tony.

But in the bullpen there was no laughter, not out loud in any case, only quiet as everyone waited with baited breath for Gibbs' next words.

"Everyone who's not on the floor behaving like juvenile delinquents, get your asses back to work! Everyone who is, get up!"

Everyone jumped to attention and soon the spectators were back at their desks, though most kept a curious eye on Team Gibbs.

Gibbs and Jenny surveyed the five hoodlums before them.

Abby's hair had been pulled out of it's pigtails and Ziva's was sticking up all over the place. Tony's band new Armani shirt had been torn and Jimmy's glasses were broken. Aside from their dishevelled appearance, Gibbs was thankful to note that no-one seemed badly injured, which was a miracle really considering the participants.

"Would I be correct to assume that this started from Ziva yelling at Tony?"

"She attacked me boss!"

"That wasn't the question!"

Five heads bobbed up and down.

"Okay, so how did the rest of you get involved? Abby?"

"Tony was being really mean so I went in to help Ziva."

"Tim?"

"I was trying to rescue Abby."

"Palmer?"

"I was looking for Abby to give her some things to test and they were rolling round on the floor and I tried to tell them to stop but someone pulled me in and I just started punching and kicking."

Gibbs pinched the bridge of his nose, trying desperately to keep a lid on his temper. He turned to Jenny.

"Are we using any interrogation rooms at the moment?"

"No."

"Okay, everyone except Ziva, get in an interrogation room. Ziva, you're with Jenny."

"But Gibbs! I do not want. . ."

Gibbs did not have to say another word. Just his glare told Ziva that arguing further would be futile and in the long run would just cause her increased pain and discomfort.

"I will go with Jenny," she said hurriedly rushing towards the elevator as the others made for interrogation.

Jenny smiled at Gibbs. "Sucks to be you!"

"I wouldn't be so cocky," Gibbs said glaring at her. "I wouldn't fancy bringing Ziva to the hospital."

Jenny made a face as she considered this. "Yes, well. . ." She sighed. "Why are none of my employees capable of behaving like adults?"

"Do you find me particularly childish Jen?" Gibbs smirked.

"So apart from you."

"What about Ducky?"

"Fine, why are none of _those_ employees capable of behaving like adults?"

"Because Abby and DiNozzo have extremely low mental ages, Ziva hasn't surpassed the defiant teenager stage and Palmer and McGee are just too impressionable."

Jenny laughed. "That sounds about right. Have fun!"

"You too."

Gibbs laughed as he watched Jenny head across the bullpen towards a still irritated looking Ziva. It surprised him how easily they'd fallen into the easy joking banter they'd shared in Paris but he found he liked it. He liked it a lot.

"JIMMY!"

Gibbs sighed. It had much easier to enjoy Jenny's company when they hadn't had all these 'children' running around.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter despite the fact that it pretty much completely diverted from the plot. I just started writing it and then had the sudden urge to drag the boys into it as well. Please R&R! **


	13. And The Family Keeps On Growing

**I'm uploading this chapter again because it all got smooshed into a horrible unreadable mess last time. Hopefully it will be okay now, but if there's still any problems, tell me and I'll try and sort them out.**

Getting Ziva to the hospital had been just as difficult as predicted. Ziva had spent the journey explaining why Gibbs was overreacting and when they'd arrived at the hospital Jenny had had to threaten to send out paramedics and a stretcher just to get her out of the car.

When they'd finally gotten inside Ziva had been taken off by a nurse who'd instructed Jenny to wait where she was. Jenny had done her best to explain how much Ziva disliked hospitals and how her waiting behind was probably a bad idea but the nurse had refused to listen. Judging by the look on the woman's face as she stormed towards her now, Jenny had the distinct suspicion that she regretted her decision to take Ziva on alone.

"Are you the one responsible for the little hooligan with the head injury?"

"Ziva?"

"I don't know and I don't care. Are you related to her or aren't you?"

"Um, well, no. Actually I'm her boss."

"Her boss? What kind of profession would employ a little bitch like her? Well, maybe selling the Big Issue I guess."

The nurse burst out laughing at her own joke and Jenny felt her blood boil. Nobody, and especially not this irritating, opinionated nurse, was going to talk about her family like pulled her badge out and flashed it in the woman's face.

"I'm Jennifer Sheppard, director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Ziva happens to be one of my best agents."

"A federal agent? Well, they said our government was going to the dogs but this. . ."

"HEY! Don't you dare talk about my agent like that!"

"She bit me!" The woman argued angrily.

Jenny did a double take. "She did what now?"

"I was trying to put an IV in her arm and she bit me!"

This time the nurse held out her hand to Jenny revealing deep teeth marks.

"Well, I would be sympathetic except I did try and warn you about this and given the way you've just spoken, I think you probably deserved it."

"You. . .you. . ."

"Please send a doctor along as soon as possible," Jenny called over her shoulder to the stunned nurse as she walked down the corridor.

As soon as Jenny opened the door she was pounced upon by Ziva.

"Please don't be mad at me Jenny. I didn't mean to, honestly I didn't! I just. . ."

Jenny held up her hand. "Ziva, calm down. I'm not mad at you. Actually, I'm rather proud. That woman was a nasty piece of work, I probably would have taken a snap at her myself if she'd tried to stick a needle in my arm."

Ziva grinned.

"Really?"

"Really."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NCISNCISNCISNCIS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at NCIS, Gibbs was trying to work out what to do. It had been hard enough when it was only Abby and Ziva that he'd been mad at but now that both his boys and Jimmy Palmer, that was the one he still could not get his head around, that _Jimmy Palmer_, of all people had got mixed up in a fight with his rowdy bunch, well, he just didn't know how to handle it.

Eventually he decided to deal with Palmer first, partly because he was sure the boy was terrified and also because he would be the easiest as Gibbs had no intentions of spanking him.

He received the surprise of his life, however, when he opened the door to the interrogation room where Palmer was waiting.

As soon as he stepped through the door Palmer was on his feet and stuttering.

"Agent Gibbs, sir, before you say anything, I just want to say that I was thinking about it and my explanation of how I got involved made it seem like I was blaming the others. I guess I was, kind of, cause well, you kind of really scare me sometimes. But anyway, it wasn't their fault I got involved Agent Gibbs, it was my fault. I could have just gone to find somebody to break the fight up, I had no reason to get involved myself so it was entirely my fault and. . .well. . .yeah . . ."

Gibbs sighed, so much for this being easy. "Sit down Palmer."

Palmer sat, and Gibbs took a seat opposite.

"I'm proud of you."

Palmer's mouth almost hit the table. Clearly, whatever he'd been expecting, it was not that.

"Uh. . .um. . .you. . .you are? Uh. . .wh. . .why?"

"Because I was completely prepared to accept that you had been involuntarily pulled into the situation by the others. You could easily have gotten away without even a word of admonishment. But you didn't. You told the truth. Accepted responsibility for your actions. And it takes guts to do that, guts which, if I'm honest, I didn't really think you had. But I obviously underestimated you. You're braver than I gave you credit for and I'm very proud of you Jimmy."

"Huh? You. . .you've. . .never. . .never. . .called me. . .called me Jimmy. . .before."

"No, well the people I work with have to earn my respect before I call them by name."

"Yeah, Tony told me you called Stan Burly 'Steve ' for. . .wait. . .earn your. . .your. . ."

"My respect. Like I said, it took guts to admit to what you'd done like you just did."

"Wow. . .wow. . ."

Without much conscious thought on the matter Gibbs made a decision.

"Hey Jimmy, I don't suppose Tony's ever told you anything about how I deal with my people when they step out of line?"

"Uh, he told me you prefer to handle things "off the books" but I didn't really know what he meant by it. Why?"

"Because. . .Jimmy, do you know the official NCIS consequences for fist fighting in the workplace?

"Um, not specifically, but I'm guessing they're not good."

"No, they're not. Something like this could stop you ever getting promoted. Certainly the chances of you ever becoming chief ME would be next to nothing."

The poor boy looked like he was about to throw up. "Well. . .don't do the crime if you can't do the time I guess."

Gibbs smiled. His opinion of the young man had raised more in the last five minutes than it had in the last two years.

"Again, that's a very brave attitude to take but that's what "off the books" means. I don't believe in damaging the careers of good people who are good at their jobs, and you fall into that category, over something as silly as the stunt you lot just pulled. So, because of that, I offer my people a choice."

"A choice?"

Gibbs nodded.

"Either we take this through the official routes or I deal with you off the record."

"Off the record?"

"Have you ever been spanked before Jimmy?"

"Have I. . .what? Oh my God! You are not serious!"

Gibbs nodded. "Dead serious. I'll give you some time to think about it but bear in mind, once you've made a decision there's no turning back, that's how we're going to handle it. And if you choose to let me deal with this off the record, the only choice you'll get about it after this is whether or not to do something to deserve it, no agreeing to save your career this time and then screaming sexual harassment the next time.

"Jimmy couldn't help but chuckle at the venom in Gibbs' voice as he said this. "That something you've had experience of?"

Gibbs smiled. "Abby. She's tried every trick in the book. You ever want advice about how not to try and get out of a spanking, she's your go-to girl."

Jimmy returned the smile and then sighed. "I can't believe I'm even contemplating this Agent Gibbs but, I think. . .I think I'd prefer for you to deal with this. . .off the record."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Please get it over with before I'm not."

Gibbs smiled reassuringly. "Don't look so scared Jimmy. You'll be fine. I'm not going to lie to you, this is going to hurt, but there'll be no lasting damage and when it's over, it's over and you'll be forgiven. Okay?"

Jimmy nodded. Gibbs frowned slightly. He looked pale, really pale.

"Are you sure you're alright Jimmy?"

"Yeah, please just get it over with."

"Okay. Bend over the table."

Gibbs took a deep breath and then lifted his hand and brought it down on Palmer's backside.

Given how terrified the man had looked and the fact that it was his first spanking Gibbs went easy on him, stopping as soon as he heard the first cries, which was longer than he'd anticipated, Palmer was definitely a lot stronger than anyone gave him credit for, but Gibbs knew that it would have hurt the man so he was astounded when the first words Jimmy Palmer said when he stoop up were:

"Was that it?"

"What? Did it not hurt?"

"No, no, it hurt. I just. . .just expected it to hurt. . .more."

"Why?"

Jimmy's eyes widened. "No reason," he said quickly. "I'm sorry Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs was sure that there was more to the fearful look in Jimmy Palmer's eyes than he was letting on but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt for now and hope that he might talk when he was ready.

"If you ever want to talk, my door's always open. Okay Jimmy?"

"Yeah, sorry again Agent Gibbs."

"Just Gibbs, son. Just Gibbs."

**I got a bit carried away with Palmer there, he never gets enough screen time in my opinion, but the next chapter will be back to Ziva causing havoc at the hospital. I hope you enjoyed it, please review! **


	14. Like A Daughter

**Sorry for the late update. I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

Gibbs sighed as he walked from the room. He never enjoyed punishing his surrogate children and he had found Jimmy to be no exception. He took another deep breath as he pulled his phone out, it was not that he didn't trust Jenny, or Ziva for that matter, it was just that he knew how she'd been behaving lately and, well. . .he was not particularly hopeful.

"Hello?"

"Hey Jen, how's it going?"

"Uh. . .well, the doctor should be here soon."

"How's Ziva been?"

"Um. . .uh. . .she could have been worse." 

"Of course she could," Gibbs sighed, talking to this woman could be infuriating sometimes. "But what has she actually done?"

"Uh, well, the nurse that was supposed to be putting in her IV was absolutely horrible, and it's important that you remember that Jethro, she was horrid! She called Ziva a hooligan and a bitch and said that the only job she could do was sell the big issue and. . ."

"Jenny, Jenny! Calm down! Why did she say that about Ziva?"

"Because she's a mean cow!"

"Yes, I got that," Gibbs sighed. "What did Ziva do?"

"Ziva didn't start it! It was provoked and. . ."

"Jenny! What. Did. She. Do?"

"She may have, uh, bit her?"

"She bit her Jethro, but that woman had it coming to her and. . ."

"What did you do?"

"Uh, what did I what?"

"What did you do or say to Ziva?"

"I told her. . .I told her that. . .that I was proud of her and would have done the same in her position." Jenny squeezed her eyes shut, anticipating Gibbs' wrath. She was not disappointed.

"You did WHAT?"

"I told her I would have done the same, I would have too, it was entirely justified. She was. . ."

"That is not the point Jennifer and you know it! It doesn't matter how awful the woman was, you can't condone Ziva _biting_ someone, let alone encourage it! What were you _thinking_?"

"I was thinking that I've spent most of the last two days being angry at Ziva, and now at Abby too, and I don't like being angry Jethro."

"And you think I do?"

"You sure act like you do sometimes."

Gibbs scowled, "I don't, I hate it. But when you're responsible for someone, whether a child or a very childish adult, you have to show them right from wrong, even if it does mean being angry at them."

"Well I'm sorry I'm not as good at being a bastard as you are!" Jenny yelled, slamming the end call button on her phone and startling the two people walking along the corridor. Truthfully though, she knew that she was only mad at him because he was right, she'd handled the situation awfully, it was just so exhausting to be so furious all the time.

Ziva shut the door of the hospital room quietly and sat back on her bed. She'd been planning on trying to sneak out but having heard what she had, she couldn't.

All this time that she'd been so busy worrying about what she wanted, she had never even considered how her behaviour might be affecting the people around her. And now that she thought about it, it made her feel sick.

She'd gone out of her way to, at every possibility, defy Gibbs in everything he said, she'd been rude to and yelled at Ducky, sweet lovely Ducky who'd only been trying to help, she'd gotten Abby into massive trouble, she'd initiated a spectacular fist fight in the bull pen and driven Jenny into such a state that she'd screamed at Gibbs and hung up on him. She shuddered at the thought of how mad he must be at Jenny, then shuddered more at the thought of how mad he was at her.

The door opened, interrupting Ziva's epiphany and, to her intense surprise, Jenny found her self being enveloped in a huge hug by Ziva, who was talking so fast Jenny couldn't hear a word she was saying.

"Whoa, whoa, Ziva! You sound like Abby! What's going on?"

"I heard what you were saying to Gibbs, I wasn't eavesdropping or anything, actually I was trying to make a break for it but I didn't because. . .I'm so sorry Jenny!"

Ziva hugged her even tighter and mumbled into her shoulder. "I didn't mean to make you so upset."

Jenny rubbed Ziva's back soothingly. "I know you didn't honey, it's alright."

"No it's not!" Ziva wailed. "I've been so awful to everyone! To Gibbs, to Ducky, to Abby, to you. You should all hate me!"

"We don't hate you Ziva. You've made some bad choices these last few days but that doesn't make you a bad person. We still love you Ziva. Whether you're being the nice, kind woman I know you can be or biting nurses and starting fights, we'll always love you. Always."

Jenny placed a kiss on the top of Ziva's head and smiled slightly to herself. I anyone had told her a year or so ago that one day she would be standing here comforting a woman who had become like a daughter to her, she would have told them they were crazy. She wasn't that person and she'd thought she never would be, thought she wouldn't even like to be. But now that she was that person, she couldn't imagine being anyone else.

**Obviously, we're now nearing the end of what has to be the world's longest flashback, but I'm having a massive writer's block trying to write the next chapter or so because, clearly Ziva is in dire need of discipline but I don't want to make Gibbs seem like an abusive bastard. So, if any of you have any suggestions of how harsh you think he should be with her, I will be immensely grateful, and it will make the next chapter come much faster! **


	15. A Child At Heart

**Disclaimer: I still don't own NCIS**

Tony was pacing up and down the interrogation room anxiously. He didn't do well with sitting around at the best of times, but when he was this nervous it was impossible for him to stay still.

The door opening made him jump and he swung round to face Gibbs, who was still looking partly angry but mostly looked exhausted.

Gibbs sighed. "Why is it that we're always stood here for the same reasons?"

Tony shrugged.

"A verbal answer, DiNozzo."

"I don't know boss, it's just, me and Ziva, we always wind each other up and I didn't think she'd take it so hard this time."

"Be that as it may, you know first hand how hard this is the first time. How would you have felt if someone had taunted you after that first time I spanked you?"

Tony grimaced. "I would have hated I boss," he admitted. Now that he thought about it, he felt like a total heel for doing that to Ziva.

"And as for the fighting, I'm sure you don't need an explanation of why that's wrong at anytime and completely inappropriate in a place of work. What is there'd been visitors here today? What kind of impression do you think that would have given of our agency? Of all of you?"

"I didn't star. . ."

"You know that I don't care who started it DiNozzo, you had the opportunity to end it and you didn't."

Tony sighed. "Yeah, I know boss. Won't happen again boss."

Gibbs nodded in acknowledgement, then gestured to the table. Taking a deep breath, Tony lowered himself into position and gripped the sides of the table.

This was far from Tony's first spanking, but he was of the opinion that you were never ready for that first smack and it drew almost as loud a gasp from him as it had the first time, and every other time since.

Tony had always been good at taking his lickings but even still, by the time Gibbs was finished with him he and tears in his eyes and was sure he wouldn't sit for at least the rest of the week.

He took a few moments to catch his breath before standing up. When he did so, Gibbs pulled him into a hug.

"You know much better than to act like you did today. Try and act like the mature, responsible man I know you can be."

"I will boss. I'll be mature and sensible all the time."

Gibbs laughed. "Don't make promises you can't keep DiNozzo."

Tony smiled, "Okay, okay, so maybe eighty percent of the time. What can I say? I'm a child at heart!"

Gibbs smiled and ruffled his hair. "And don't we just know it."

**Please R&R!**


	16. The Proverbial Woodshed

**Sorry for another short chapter but the next one should be longer! I hope you enjoy it anyway.**

Ziva's epiphany, it would appear, did not last long within ten minutes of the doctor arriving Jenny was regretting not doing as her father had wanted and joined the Marines. And least people did as they were told in the marines.

As Ziva smacked the needle from the doctors hand for the fourth time Jenny had had enough. She did admire the patience of the doctor though, she doubted he'd ever had such an obstinate patient.

"Ziva! Cut it out!" She turned to the doctor. "I'm really sorry Doctor. I honestly don't know what's gotten into her these last few days."

The doctor laughed. "Don't worry about it ma'am, I've had lots of experience with this type of thing. I used to work in paediatrics."

Jenny groaned and buried her face in her hands. That was just what she needed, to be told that Ziva, who she frequently sent off with a gun, was behaving like a child.

The fifth time Ziva knocked the syringe from the doctor's hand was the final straw as it shattered and sent its contents spreading across the floor.

"ZIVA! I am so so sorry doctor!"

The doctor shook his head and seemed to be trying to suppress a laugh. "Don't worry, I'll get someone to come clean it up."

"Uh, Doctor," Jenny called as he was leaving. "Is there somewhere more private where I could, uh. . .talk to her?"

The doctor looked confused for a moment then smiled. "Ah, you want a proverbial woodshed?" 

"Um, uh, ah. . ."

"You're Jethro Gibbs' boss right? He's an old friend." 

"Oh, Okay."

"You can use my office, it's just down the hall. My name's Mark Hunter by the way," he added, holding out his hand. "I don't think we got to be properly introduced before your agent over there started talking."

Jenny laughed and shook his hand. "Jenny Sheppard."

"Well, good luck Miss. Sheppard."

Jenny smiled and then sighed. She was going to need it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NCISNCISNCISNCIS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What did he mean?"

"What did he mean about what?"

"He said something about a 'proverbial woodshed'. Is that some kind of American idiom that I am not aware of?"

"Something like that."

"Where are we going?"

"To the proverbial woodshed."

"I do not know what that means!" Ziva whined.

"Oh, just be quiet Ziva, you'll find out soon enough."

Ziva huffed and pouted. "You are really annoying."

Jenny raised her eyes skywards. It was going to be a long, long day.

**Please R&R!**


	17. Momma's Turn

Ziva stood with her arms crossed glaring at Jenny. "Why are we here?"

"Ziva," Jenny said softly. "Why are you acting like this?"

"What are you talking about?"

Jenny sighed, she seemed to be doing that a lot recently. "Don't play dumb with me Ziva. I know that you're headstrong and determined but you've always followed orders and you've never been this defiant or obstinate. What's going on?"

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"Ziva, why can't you tell me what's wrong? We used to be so close, in Cairo."

"Cairo was a long time ago Jenny. This is not Egypt, things are different here. In Egypt we were equals, friends, but here you and Gibbs and Ducky, you. . ."

"You feel that we treat you like you're inferior to us?"

Ziva nodded. Jenny sighed and lent against the desk.

"Ziva, first, let me make it clear that we don't think you're in anyway inferior to us. We know that you're an adult, and generally a sensible and reliable one at that, it's just that you're so young Ziva."

Ziva opened her mouth to protest but Jenny raised her hand.

"You are Ziva, in comparison to me and Gibbs and Ducky, you're so, so young. We've all experienced so much more of life than you have, and not just you, all the others as well, and we just want to protect you. I know that part of life is making mistakes but I've found, since I've come here, a fiercely protective maternal side that I never knew I had and all I want to do is try and stop you from making mistakes that are going to hurt you."

Tears had come to Ziva's eyes and she tried desperately to blink them away. It was so hard to listen to speeches like that, with Jenny's voice so full of love, almost pleading for her to understand. And she wanted to understand, to believe that Jenny, Gibbs and Ducky meant the things they said, but she'd been betrayed by every person she'd ever trusted, every person she'd ever loved, and she'd been determined that she wouldn't set herself up for that kind of heartbreak again.

But every word that these American people said broke further through her defences and it was becoming harder and harder to distance herself from them.

"And also I'd prefer it if you didn't keep embarrassing me and our agency by behaving like a child."

Ziva grimaced. She truly didn't know why she'd been so ridiculous with the doctor. She'd just been so used to doing pretty much whatever she wanted without any consequences for anything, ever since she was a kid, and it was hard to adjust to being bossed around.

Jenny stood up and took a deep breath, not quite believing that she was actually about to do this. For a moment she considered not doing it, Ziva hadn't understood the comments about the woodshed so she'd be none the wiser. But deep down she knew that she had to do it. She'd likely ask DiNozzo about the woodshed thing and would consequently lose all respect for her, and even if she didn't ask Tony, it was the principle of it. She couldn't allow Ziva to think that she could walk all over her.

Pulling out the chair behind the desk and sitting down Jenny called Ziva to her. Ziva looked at her confused, but came.

Jenny captured Ziva's wrists in her hands and took another deep breath.

"Do you understand what you did wrong?"

"I guess I should not have kept knocking the doctor's hand."

"No, you shouldn't," Jenny agreed. "But also, whilst I am aware that that nurse was an awful cow, I'd just like to make it clear that you cannot go around biting, or otherwise physically attacking people who upset you. That's something that I would not condone in a three year old, let alone a _twenty_-three year old. Do you understand?"

"Yes Jenny."

"Good, but as I said, the nurse was awful so I will not punish you for that."

Ziva nodded, then frowned. "Punish me. . ?"

"I will, however, punish you for the awful behaviour you exhibited with the doctor."

"What?" Ziva exclaimed, attempting to pull her hands from Jenny's grasp. "You cannot surely intend to. . ."

"Ziva, this would be much easier for both of us if you would just be compliant." 

"I WILL NOT! You would not. . . you cannot. . ."

"I will and I can, and don't yell at me Ziva."

"NO! I will not let you. . .HEY!" 

Jenny, having finally had enough of Ziva's yelling, had yanked on her wrist and pulled her down across her lap.

"Get off me!"

"Like I said, this will be much easier if you stop yelling and being so defiant," Jenny said calmly as she raised her hand and brought it down on Ziva's backside.

For all that Ziva had tried to remain strong and stoic when Gibbs had spanked her, she did the complete opposite with Jenny. Right from the first smack she screamed blue murder and it was a tribute to Jenny's strength and patience that she powered through.

And then Ziva, as had become the norm lately, took it too far. As a particularly hard swat landed on her sit spot she let out a deafening screech.

"Get the hell off me you bitch!"

There was a moment of stunned silence, neither woman quite able to believe what Ziva had just said. And then in a swift and determined movement Jenny flipped up the back of Ziva's hospital gown and pulled her panties down.

The thin hospital gown and underwear had not been providing much protection and so the pain ad barely increased but the shock that Ziva felt at finding herself bare bottomed across Jenny's knee had the desired effect and ceased her screaming.

Jenny could not remember ever feeling as relieved as she did when Ziva stopped shouting and kicking. Tears began to fall down her cheeks and, finally, she said the words that Jenny had been waiting to hear.

"I am sorry!"

Finishing up with a couple of extra hard smacks she returned Ziva's clothing to the appropriate place and pulled her into a hug.

"I a-am so-ory Je-enny," Ziva hiccuped into Jenny's shoulder. "And I did not mean to call you a bitch."

"I know sweetie," Jenny said kissing Ziva's head. "Just please, don't make me do that again."

"I won't, I promise."

"Good. I love you Ziva."

"I love you too Jen."

**I'm not too sure about this chapter as I think that Ziva and Jen seem a bit OOC, but this is about my third draft of it so I figured I'd put it up here and hopefully you all enjoyed it anyway. Please R&R!**


	18. Respect

Tim jumped to his feet as he door opened and was babbling apologies before Gibbs set one foot inside the room.

Gibbs had to work very hard to smother a laugh, Tim was almost as bad as Abby when he was nervous.

"Tim, Tim!"

Tim stopped talking and turned to his boss, though avoided making eye contact.

"Look at me Tim."

Reluctantly, Tim raised his head to meet Gibbs' eyes.

"Why did you do it Tim?"

"I already told you, I was trying to protect Abby."

"Tim," Gibbs sighed. "I know that Abby's the baby of the family and we all go out of our way to protect her but honestly, she can hold her own in a fight. And do you really think it was necessary to protect her from _Tony_?"

"No, I guess not boss."

"What do you think would have been the best thing to do in that situation?"

"Come to find you," Tim replied in a monotone. He was having uncomfortable flashbacks to his father chastising him for fighting with Sarah.

"So do you understand why I'm going to punish you?"

Tim gulped and nodded.

"Okay, over here."

Trying hard to maintain some kind of decorum, Tim managed to make it over to the table and bend over.

Like Tony, Tim tried as hard as he could to stay strong during a spanking, but he was infinitely more sensitive than Tony and he soon began to cry.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Rounding off the spanking, Gibbs allowed Tim to stay led over the table and catch his breath before helping him to his feet and pulling him into a hug.

"Next time you want to protect Abby, try thinking it through first Tim."

"I will boss," Tim promised and Gibbs smiled.

Three down, two to go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NCISNCISNCISNCIS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gibbs smiled as he saw Jenny walking across the bullpen towards him with a much more subdued Ziva in tow.

"So, what did the doctor say?"

"He thinks she should stay with someone for another few days but she should make a full recovery."

Gibbs nodded. "That's good news. Ziva, wait for me in interrogation 5."

He'd almost expected to have to drag her there and so was surprised when she walked off witout argument.

"Jeez Jen, what did you do? Shoot her with a tranquillizer?"

"Not exactly," Jenny smiled. "I spanked her."

"You spanked her?"

"She kept knocking the syringe out of the doctors hand. And for the record, I also told her she shouldn't be automatically violent when she's upset."

"Good for you," Gibbs said, returning her smile. "Now, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"What are we doing now?"

"Not here."

"Jethro, what do. . ." She attempted to ask, but Gibbs was already walking away. Damn man had never let her finish speaking.

She followed him up to her office, shut the door and lent against it.

"So? What do you want to talk about?"

"First, are you quite clear on why you shouldn't have told Ziva what you told her?"

"Yes Gibbs," Jenny sighed. "I get it."

"Okay, so secondly, the way you spoke to me on the phone and then hung up. Never mind that it was unbelievably rude but do you really think that it was a good example to be setting to Ziva? If we want her, or any of them, to have any respect for us, we have to have some respect for each other."

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. Are we done now?"

She turned to open the door, but Gibbs stopped her.

"Not quite. Was Paris really so long ago that you've forgotten how I deal with this sort of behaviour?"

Jenny's eyes widened. "Surely you don't. . .you can't. . .I'm your _boss_!"

"Doesn't matter," Gibbs said, reaching for her.

And then Jenny made the worst mistake she'd made all day. She ran.

**Hope you enjoyed! Please R&R!**


	19. Not That Long Ago

Cynthia looked up from her computer and to the directors door in alarm as she heard a crash.

"Director?" she called out getting up.

There was no reply save another loud bang and a shout.

Cynthia knocked on the door and called out again, this time she was met with a smashing sound and a yell off:

"Damn it Jenny!"

Worried for her boss, Cynthia flung the door open and stopped dead at the sight before her. The director's office looked like a disaster zone. Various items of furniture had been upturned and the floor was littered with broken glass and china. More surprising than that though, was the apparent cause of the disarray.

Director Sheppard was running around her office with Jethro Gibbs in hot pursuit looking more angry than she'd ever seen him, and she'd seen him plenty angry.

Unable to say a word, Cynthia could only stand with her mouth open watching the scene before her play out to it's inevitable conclusion. Jenny slipped ever so slightly as she rounded a corner and smacked her knee against her desk. Automatically, she pulled it into her chest, cried out in pain and started to hop up and down.

Now, of course, Gibbs had no trouble catching her. Feeling Gibbs hand on her arm and knowing it was all over, Jenny was just about to start yelling when Cynthia finally made herself heard.

"Is everything okay?"

Both heads looked up at her. Gibbs' eyes travelled around the catastrophe that was the office, to Jenny, who he was currently holding tightly around the waist and then back to Jenny's stunned secretary.

"Ah, Cynthia," he said awkwardly. "Perhaps you should go on a coffee break?"

Cynthia was tempted to argue, to demand an explanation for the insane situation she'd just witnessed, but then thought better of it. She didn't think she really wanted to know.

As Cynthia left the office, Gibbs turned to Jenny who was trying her utmost to squirm out of his grip. Releasing his hold on her with one hand, he brought it crashing down on her backside.

Jenny let out a high pitched screech and Gibbs shook his head and laughed.

"Jeez Jen, that was practically ultrasound."

"Jethro! What are you doing? Like I told you, I am your boss! You can't do this! LET ME GO!"

Gibbs spun her around to face him. "I don't care if you're my boss or not Jenny," he said in a calm voice. "We're dealing with something entirely non-work related and if you're rude to me or make stupid decisions like you did today, I'm going to punish you for it whether you're my subordinate, my boss or the President of the United States! Do you understand?"

Jenny nodded, then smiled. Gibbs cocked his head to one side questioningly.

"The way you spoke just then," she explained. "You sounded exactly like you did before, 'back in the day', as Tony's so fond of calling it."

Gibbs returned the smile. "I told you Paris wasn't so long ago."

Jenny nodded and they were silent for a few moments as they remembered.

"So," Jenny said eventually. "Is the nostalgia enough to stop you from. . ."

"Nope."

"No, I didn't think so. But hey, it was worth a try."

Gibbs laughed. "You know, you haven't changed much either Jen."

"Mmmm," she agreed absent mindedly. Maybe it was the talk of Paris. Maybe it was the feeling of being in his arms again. Maybe it was just too hot in the office. But all she could think about was how they'd used to be, and the regret she felt for the way she'd left it.

"Jenny?" Gibbs voice broke through her thoughts and she shook her head slightly. She'd never been one to dwell on the past, preferring instead to think about the future, but she was finding it harder and harder not to dwell on Paris.

"Shall we get this over with?"

Jenny grimaced. She'd all but forgotten why they were here in the first place, but she nodded.

Not quite able to believe that she was actually allowing her employee to do this to her, she let Gibbs pull her down onto his lap.

'But then,' she thought to herself. 'Jethro had never been just an employee.'

The pain that came with the first smack interrupted her thoughts, and as the second and third came down in quick succession she cried out, she hadn't remembered quite how painful a spanking was.

"Ow! Ow! OW! Jethro! I'm sorry! Please! No more! OUCH! Jethro! That HURTS!"

"Supposed to Jen," Gibbs replied, as he attempted to steel himself to her cries.

Keen to get it over as fast as possible, Gibbs raised his right knee, tipping her forward slightly and exposing her sit spot to his punishing blows. As he continued to smack her, he winced. He hadn't remembered quite how vocal Jenny was in spanking.

Finally, to the relief of both parties, it was over. Gibbs help Jenny to stand up and wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm sorry Jethro," she mumbled into his chest.

He squeezed her tighter. "I know."

They stood like that for an immeasurable length of time, both thinking the same thing but neither willing to swallow their pride and say it.

Maybe one day their relationship could return to what it had once been, but for now they were content to stand here in each other's arms, with just a little of the closeness they'd once shared restored.

**I hope you liked this chapter, the next chapter will (finally!) return its focus to our original culprits, Abby and Ziva. Please review!**


	20. Pushing The Boundaries

Ziva cautiously opened the door of interrogation room four and peered in. Abby jumped to her feet and swung around.

"Ziva? What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here! If Gibbs comes in and you're here. . ."

"Relax Abby, I'll only be here a moment. Besides, Gibbs just went up to Jenny's office, that conversation could take all night."

"Okay," Abby said, not sounding convinced. "Come and sit down."

"I'm fine standing thank you," Ziva replied quickly.

"Oh, Gibbs has already. . .you know?" 

Ziva shook her head and grimaced. "Jenny."

Abby's eyes widened. "Jenny? _Jenny_ spanked you?"

Ziva nodded. "She was almost as mad at me as Gibbs is."

"Gibbs wont like that. He doesn't like other people taking charge of his team."

"Actually, I got the feeling he found it quite amusing. Besides, she didn't spank me for the lying or anything."

"Oh Lord above Ziva, please tell me you didn't do something else! Are you going for a Guinness World Record or something?"

"No I am not going for a Guinness World Record!" Ziva replied defensively. "There was just a very annoying doctor at the hospital."

"Okay, out with it, what did you do?"

"Ziva walked in to lean against the one way mirror. "He was trying to inject things into me and I didn't want an injection, so I. . .I knocked the needle out of his hand."

"You knocked the needle out of his hand?" 

"Five times."

"Five times?"

"And the last time it smashed."

"Ziva! What did Jenny say?"

"She yelled at me, and then she asked the doctor about a 'proverbial woodshed'. I did not understand that, and Jenny still has not explained it."

"Oh, traditionally, if a child was to be given a spanking the child's parent would take them out to the shed where they stored firewood for privacy, the 'woodshed'. And a 'proverbial woodshed' is like a woodshed but not a woodshed. As in used for the same function, the spanking rather than the storing firewood, because, clearly most people do not have open fires any more. Do you see?"

Ziva stared at Abby in bewilderment. "No Abby."

Abby frowned. "It's a place where people take you when they want to tan your ass."

Ziva nodded, that she understood.

"Okay, but Abby, the reason I came in here in the first place was. . .well, I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

"For making you not take me to the hospital."

"Don't be sorry for _that _Ziva! I made my own decisions and they weren't your fault. Trust me, forget about it. You have enough to feel guilty for without adding that to the list."

Ziva smiled. "Thank you Abby."

Abby smiled and hugged Ziva, before turning to push her from the room.

"Now, you'd better hurry up and get to where you're supposed to be before. . ."

She tailed off as she caught sight of the doorway, at which stood their two severely pissed off bosses.

"Oh crap," Abby whispered. "As if we weren't in enough trouble already!"

Gibbs fixed them with a menacing glare. "What the hell are you two doing in here?" 

The two women attempted to answer at the same time, talking over the top of one another, their voices getting increasingly loud as they tried to be heard.

"STOP!"

They stopped, and exchange worried glances.

"One at a time. Ziva?"

"I came in here because I was feeling bad about talking Abby into not bringing me to the hospital and I wanted to apologise."

Gibbs' glare softened slightly as he turned to Abby. "That true?"

"Yes Gibbs, but I told her that she shouldn't apologise because it was my choice to do the wrong thing."

Jen was torn. On the one hand she was in complete disbelief that the two of them would even think about disobeying them again, but on the other hand, she couldn't really fault them for making sure everything was alright between themselves. She turned to Gibbs and explained this to him in fast, quiet French.

"They could have done it at a more appropriate time when it did not involve disobeying us," he pointed out.

On the other side of the room, the girls were even more nervous that their fate required a parental conference.

"What are they saying?" Abby hissed to Ziva.

"I'm not sure, they're being very quiet. Something about appropriate times and disobedience and paddles and belts and. . ."

"No, no! I don't want to hear any more!"

The two stood squirming in silence as they waited.

Eventually, Gibbs and Jenny turned to them.

"Whilst I can understand, Ziva," Jenny said. "That you would want to apologise to Abby, that is not an excuse to disobey orders. Do you understand me?"

"Yes ma'am," the two girls replied.

Jenny nodded. "Okay, well, I believe my work here is done. I'll leave you both in Daddy's capable hands."

The two gulped. In that moment, both felt keen to act like the little girls she had inferred they were and throw themselves at their 'mother' begging her not to leave them.

It was due only to the substantial willpower that each woman possessed that the refrain from doing so. And they felt even more like little girls about to face their father's consequences as Gibbs began to pace up and down in front of them.

Finally, he turned to face them, glaring angrily. Both tried to hold his gaze, and both failed, dropping their eyes to their feet and squirming under the furious look.

"You know what?" Gibbs said suddenly, making them both jump. "I was all for coming down here and getting this out of the way so we could move on. But now you go and disobey me _again_! What is wrong with the two of you? Can't you behave yourselves for five minutes?"

Ziva bit her lip nervously and Abby began to wring her hands.

"I'm much too angry to deal with you right now," he grabbed Ziva's arm and hauled her towards the door, stopping only to snap, "Corner!", to Abby, who flung herself into the nearest corner immediately.

Ziva, who, even after two spankings, numerous swats and immeasurable lectures, seemed absolutely incapable of learning her lesson, was not so compliant.

She fought and yelled and swore as Gibbs attempted to get her into the corner and obeyed only when Jenny slammed the microphone button in the observation room, and threatened to repeat the "conversation" they'd had at the hospital.

Ziva winced as Gibbs slammed the door shut and groaned as he, not trusting her to stay put, turned the key in the lock.

Ziva lay her head against the wall, wondering why she had allowed the situation to get so out of hand. Why she couldn't just follow a simple order. Before she'd even fully formed the question, she knew the answer. It was because in Israel, both at Mossad and at her home, she'd known where she stood. She knew what was allowed and what was not and the consequences for doing something in the latter category.

But here, in a new job, new country, new people, she did not. Well, that was a lie. She was fully aware that disobeying a direct order was unacceptable both in her country and here, but she didn't know the last part, the consequences. She didn't know how far she was allowed to go. And, just as she had with her father as a little girl in Israel, she was crossing the lines, pushing the boundaries.

But she had a sinking feeling that, this time, she'd pushed too far.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review!**


	21. Keep Pushing Her Back

**This chapter contains a teeny tiny spoiler for episode 8x23, Swan Song.**

Gibbs came into the observation room and flung himself into a chair. Jenny leaned against the wall and tilted her head to one side.

"Are you alright?"

"Not really, no?" 

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He said nothing for a moment, and then looked up at her. "I just can't understand what I'm doing wrong. No matter how many times I try to get through to her, she refuses to do as she's told! Maybe I shouldn't have spanked her. Maybe we're not close enough for her to trust me in that kind of position."

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs that is the biggest load of bullcrap I have ever heard!"

Gibbs looked up at her in surprise.

"If you hadn't spanked her, what would have been the alternative? Would you have preferred to send her back to Tel-Aviv?"

Gibbs shook his head immediately. "No, rule number five Jen. And she's good. Most of the time."

Jenny nodded. "I agree. So, would you have punished her through official routes?"

"I don't believe in paper punishments Jen. They don't work."

"Exactly. So what does that leave you with? Ignoring what she did? How would that have helped anybody? She'd think it was okay for her to disobey orders, to lie to people and she'd think you didn't care about what she did."

"She doesn't seem to care what I think about her actions, or what I do about them."

"Jethro, I've met Ziva's father, and whilst I do think that he cares for her on some level, he's not at all good at showing it."

Gibbs nodded. "Yeah, she told me about a time when he punished Ari severally for something that was mostly her fault."

"Yes, that sounds like Eli David. I get the feeling that he thinks of, and treats, Ziva like she is just another agent and not his daughter. And as such, she's not used to anyone caring about her on a personal level, only a professional one. Hell, I think Ari and Tali, her little sister, were the only ones that ever did give a damn about her."

"What about her mother?"

"She died when Ziva was very young, just after Tali was born. I don't know what she was like, Ziva never talks about her."

Gibbs nodded, he could understand that, the pain of losing a mother.

"So, I think the issue you have here is that Tali and Ari were the only people who ever really cared about her. . ."

"I can't imagine Ari Haswari caring about anyone," Gibbs said venomously, thinking of Kate.

"He cared about Ziva. For all that he may have been, he loved her. I remember the first time I worked with Mossad. Ziva was only just gone sixteen and she disobeyed an order and almost got herself killed, just like yesterday.

"Her father didn't seem to care how close she'd been to death, he didn't ask her if she was okay or tell her off, nothing. It was Ari who dragged her into the living room and yelled at her for being so careless, and it was Ari who hugged her and told her how much it would hurt to lose her."

"And now he's gone."

"He and Tali, and I think that Ziva feels she has no one left who truly cares for her."

"She has us!"

"I know that, and I think she does too. It's just that, when you've been hurt so many times by all the people who were supposed to love you unconditionally, it's have to believe that anyone could ever care. Especially for Ziva, she builds up all those barriers and wont let anyone in because she's so afraid of being hurt again. She's pushing you Gibbs, like a child, she wants to know whether you really care for her, and you need to show her that you do. She'll listen eventually, you just have to keep pushing her back."

"You're right," Gibbs agreed.

"I usually am," Jenny smirked. "But you should probably deal with Abby first, she's been in there for ages and that last thing really wasn't her fault."

"I know," he leant over and kissed Jenny's cheek. "Thanks Jenny."

"Anytime Jethro. Anytime."

**I'm sorry if you were expecting this chapter to be Gibbs dealing with his girls, that was my intentions but then my muse took over and well, this happened. I hope you enjoyed it! **


	22. Abby

Gibbs opened the door to the interrogation room where Abby was pacing up and down and wringing her hands worriedly.

"Abby."

She spun to face him and he walked over to her.

"Gibbs, look, about a minute ago with Ziva. . .well. . .it wasn't really. . .I didn't. . .I tried. . ."

He held up a hand to stop her. "Did you ask Ziva to come in here?"

"No."

"Did you tell her that she should leave?"

"Yes, but she wouldn't. . ."

"Then it's not your fault. It was Ziva's mistake and so it's Ziva who's responsible, not you."

Abby threw her arms around Gibbs and started to mumble into his shoulder. Unable to hear what she was trying to say, he pushed her back a little and she looked down at her feet.

"I'm sorry Gibbs."

"I know."

"I was just trying to help Ziva."

"I know."

"I was so mean to her, I was trying to make it up."

"I know."

Abby shifted from one foot to the other.

"Maybe I should have tried to help her another way."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "Ya think Abby?"

"Okay, so I definitely should have tried to help her in a different way."

Gibbs said nothing and Abby continued to fidget.

"I didn't think that it would make her so unwell."

"I think the operative words in that sentence were 'didn't' and 'think'. She suffered a major head trauma and you allowed her to convince you that she was fine! You're a smart girl Abby, you _knew_ she had to get checked out. And even if you didn't, you should still have brought her to the hospital because that's what_ I told you to do_."

"You're never gonna trust me again are you?" Abby whispered, before bursting into tears.

"Hey, hey," Gibbs said, reaching out to rub her back. "I never said that. So you made a mistake, that's life Abby, people make mistakes. The question is whether you learn from them."

Abby continued to cry, but nodded in acknowledgement of what he had said.

"Okay," Gibbs said, when her sobs started to lessen. "Let's get this over with."

He pulled a chair out from under the table and sat down on it, pulling Abby to stand I front of him.

"Okay Abby, do you understand why you're getting this spanking?" Gibbs asked, keen to ensure that there wasn't anything else she was needlessly blaming herself for.

Abby nodded.

"Why Abby?"

"Because I was bad."

Gibbs rolled his eyes, Abby was infuriating sometimes. When he wanted her to get to the point she rambled for ages, and when he wanted her to elaborate she barely said a word.

"Specifically Abby."

"I did the wrong thing."

"More specific than that."

"I did the wrong thing lots of times."

His patience finally running out, Gibbs reached around her and swatted her backside.

"Dragging this out isn't going to make it any easier Abigail."

Pouting and sniffling slightly, Abby finally complied with his request.

"I didn't take Ziva to the hospital even though she was really badly hurt and that was disobeying you and Ducky."

He waited, but she said nothing else.

"And?" he prompted eventually.

"And what?"

"And what else?"

"There wasn't anything else! That's all I did!"

"What about the lying, Abs?"

"The lying? I didn't lie! Only Ziva lied!"

"And you stood there while she did so and didn't tell me the truth. That's a lie of omission, it's the same thing."

"But. . ." Abby started to argue, but stopped when she realised that he was right.

"And the fighting."

"What fight. . . oh that," she bit her lip nervously. "I'm sorry Gibbs. For disobeying and lying and fighting and everything."

Gibbs nodded to her. "I know Abs."

He held his hand out to her and she took it. He helped her get into position across his lap, then took a deep breath and brought his hand down on her upturned backside.

Abby let out a piercing shriek at that first smack and was sobbing by the third. Gibbs took another couple of deep breaths before continuing. Though he abhorred spanking any of his surrogate 'children' spanking Abby was always the hardest because, whilst the others tried as hard as possible to keep their composure and take their punishment like troopers, Abby. . .well, Abby was Abby and she kicked and cried and screamed blue murder.

Finally, Gibbs tipped her forwards and landed the last flurry of hard swats to her sit spots and then it was over, and the hand that had caused so much pain just moments before now rubbed soothing circles into her back.

When Abby had calmed down a little, Gibbs lifted her and sat her gently on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and mumbled apologies into his shoulder.

"Shh, shh," he soothed kissing the top of her head. "It's okay, it's all over baby girl. You're forgiven."

When Abby had eventually stopped crying, Gibbs gave her a final kiss and sent her to clean herself up.

He sat back down in the chair and sighed, knowing that the biggest challenge was still before him. Dealing with Ziva.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	23. Not Without A Fight

Gibbs stepped through the door to the interrogation room where Ziva was still stood in the corner. He lent back against the door and looked at her. For a few moments she stayed still but, growing uncomfortable from his glare boring into her back, she began to fidget and eventually lost her patience.

"Can I just come out of the corner already?" She snapped.

Gibbs moved swiftly across the room and stood behind her speaking in an unnervingly soft voice.

"If you want me to let you out of this corner, you're going the wrong way about it. Keep up that kind of attitude and you can stand here all day."

Ziva felt her insides turn to jelly at his words, and cursed herself for it. She had spent so many years conditioning herself to every kind of challenge and yet here she was, standing in a corner like a little girl, getting all worked up over a spanking. A spanking! After all she had been through she was worried about Gibbs smacking her bottom a few times! Her father would be disappointed. So very disappointed.

"Ziva. You can come out now."

Gibbs was hoping that the time in the corner had cooled Ziva down and that she would finally be ready to discuss what had happened in a sensible, adult manner. Unfortunately, the exact opposite had occurred and Ziva, who had spent her entire life trying to please her father, was determined to do what she felt he would have wanted from her. She was going to fight, and she was never going to let Gibbs make her feel so scared again.

There was an annoying little voice in the back of Ziva's mind that was telling her that she wasn't truly scared of Gibbs. She trusted him, more than she would care to admit. She was apprehensive more than anything. The same kind of feeling that she had experienced as a child when she had stood outside the principle's office having punched Shmuel Rubinstein, the kind of feeling she'd felt as a teenager when she stood outside her father's office as a teenager having screwed up a mission and let a terrorist get away.

Not that that had ever come to anything. Her father had never expressed displeasure in her, he left any kind of punishment down to her instructors. As a child, she had liked it when her friends complained of their parents' strictness and she could say quite truthfully that her father had never been angry with her. As an adult however, she was beginning to wonder if maybe the fact that Gibbs was bothering to be angry with her, where her father never had, meant that he cared about her more that her father did.

But Ziva gritted her teeth and shook her head, suppressing the voice. She was not going to allow herself to get emotional. She would not allow Gibbs to break her.

This decided, she spun around and faced him. He studied her face for a moment before sighing. There was a defiant glint in her eye and he was doubting how effective her time in the corner had been at calming her down.

He gestured to the table, "Sit."

She stomped over and pulled herself up onto the table.

He glared at her, and she glared back.

She'd never realised quite how unnerving his glare was until she tried to keep looking into his cold, blue eyes.

_Leroy Jethro Gibbs was an intimidating man at the best of times, Ziva thought to herself. But when you had severely pissed him off and he was stood over you, giving you his most ferocious glare he was, quite frankly, terrifying. Of course, she was a highly trained ex-Mossad agent and would never let him know this, she sat with her arms crossed never breaking eye contact, which only served to made him even madder._

_When he finally spoke it was cold and quiet and caused Ziva's stomach to tumble involuntarily._

_"Would you like to tell me what the hell you were thinking?"_

_"Not particularly," she replied dismissively._

_Gibbs took a deep breath to try and keep a hold of his temper. "Ziva Abrahama David," he said slowly. "I suggest you quit with the attitude right now. You're in enough trouble as it is."_

_"I did nothing wrong," Ziva argued narrowing her eyes._

_"Nothing wrong?" Gibbs asked disbelievingly. "You think you did nothing wrong? Well, we'll just go through the list of offences you've racked up today shall we?"_

_Ziva's stomach did another involuntarily flip. She had a feeling she was not going to enjoy this conversation. _

"You disobeyed me and Ducky when we told you to go to the hospital, you lied to us about it multiple times, you were rude and defiant and refused to do anything you were told even when it was for your best interests that we were telling you to do those things.

"Then you started a fight in the bullpen and made a complete spectacle of yourself, your co-workers and me and Jenny. How do you think that would look for Jenny? She's recently become the first female director of a federal agency, can you imagine the ribbing she'd get at conferences if it seems like she can't even control her agents? And on the subject of Jenny, we still haven't had that conversation I promised you about yelling at the director."

Ziva bit her lip. When he listed everything like that it sounded much worse than it had felt at the time.

"Okay. I should not have done those things. I will not do them again."

Saying this, Ziva jumped down from the table, turned around and bent over it.

"Ziva, what are you doing now?"

Ziva lifted her head to look at him.

"Do you wish for me to go over your knee again Gibbs?" She asked confused. "Only I thought you were going to use your. . .or a. . .not your hand."

Gibbs placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her up. "Ziva, did you listen to the list of offences you've committed?" 

"Yes Gibbs."

"Do you really think that a spanking is enough to atone for all of that?"

Ziva's eyes went wide in fear and, to her dismay, she felt tears threatening to spill. "Gibbs. . .you. . .last time you gave me a choice. . .I. . .I do not want to return to Israel. . .I like it here, I know I screwed up but please. . ."

"Ziva. I'm not going to send you back to Tel-Aviv. Yes, you screwed up but I'm not going to give up on you that quickly. You have the makings of a damn fine investigator if you would just follow the rules."

"But I do not understand Gibbs. If you do not think a spanking is harsh enough. . .what are you going to do to me?"

In truth, Gibbs wasn't still entirely sure that what he was going to do was a good idea, but he had tried giving her a spanking, talking to her, sticking her in a corner. If she was ever going to learn to do as she was told, he was going to have to get serious.

"First of all, you're grounded. When we're done here, we're going to pick up a bag for you, then drive back to my house where you will stay for the next two weeks. You'll go to work, then you'll come home from work and you can help me with some of the jobs I've been putting off at my house."

"Gibbs. . .that is. . .you cannot _ground_ me!"

"Au contraire my dear, I just did. In addition to that, I expect you to write letters of apology to Ducky, Jenny, Tony and the doctor at the hospital."

"Tony? Why should I apologize to _Tony_?"

"You attacked him Ziva. I believe you and Jenny have already had the 'not using physical violence to release your anger discussion'."

Ziva pouted. "It was not much of a discussion. Jenny did all the talking."

Gibbs smirked. "I can imagine she did. Also, I'm going to spank you now for your appalling attitude, tomorrow morning for the fight and again tomorrow evening for the lying."

Ziva's mouth dropped open. "Gibbs, you can't. That is too much!"

"I can, and it's just enough. The disobedience, I will leave to Ducky as he is the one who originally told you to go to the hospital."

At her obvious relief he smirked. "I wouldn't look so relieved Ziva, he is just as capable of delivering discipline as I am."

Ziva paled. "He would not. . .not like you. . ."

"What Ducky decides to do is between you and him."

Gibbs looked at her. The poor girl looked sick with guilt and fear, though she seemed to be trying very hard to hide it.

He stepped closer to her and kissed her cheek. "Ziver, you have to understand that what you did was wrong. Very wrong. And these next couple of weeks are going to be hard, but when it's over, it's over. The spankings are going to hurt but there'll be no lasting damage and when it's done you'll have a clean slate, and hopefully an incentive to behave yourself. So don't look so scared, we're going to get through this. You'll be fine. Okay?"

Ziva nodded. And though she knew that the next two weeks were going to suck big time, for the first time in years she really believed that everything was going to be okay.

**I'm sorry for how rambling this chapter turned out (and this is the condensed version!) but I find Ziva's character to be so complex and fascinating that I got rather carried away trying to explain why she behaved as she did. I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway! **

**Also, while I am extremely grateful for previous comments about how Ziva should be punished, and they've made me much more confident about the discipline scenes so thank you!, I'm still a little worried about making the 'punishment fit the crime' whilst still keeping Gibbs and Ziva in character so if anyone has an opinion on whether Gibbs is being too harsh or to lenient please tell me! **


	24. Getting Through To Her

**Disclaimer: If I owned NCIS, Jenny and Kate would still be alive, "CI-Ray" would never have existed and EJ Barrett would have stayed in Europe.**

Gibbs sat down in the chair by the table and held his hand out to Ziva.

Ziva took it gingerly. "Gibbs, is this really necass. . ."

He glared at her and she sighed. "I'll take that as a yes."

He pulled her closer to him. "Do you understand what you are receiving this spanking for?"

"Yes Gibbs."

"Why?"

"You know why."

"I want you to tell me why."

"But. . .I. . .you. . .you're the one who told me in the first place!"

Gibbs was beginning to lose his temper when he realised that Ziva did not look or sound defiant as she had before, rather the prospect of telling Gibbs why she was about to be spanked seemed to be making her distressed, scared even.

"Ziva? What's wrong? Why can't tell me what you've done wrong?"

"Because. . .because. . .because it's like confessing my crimes and my father told me that I should never confess. No matter what happened, or what pain I was put through, I should never admit to anything. It was after I broke my Ima's favourite vase when I was about four and I went to him and told him what I'd done."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows, clearly Ziva's father had screwed her up more completely than he'd thought. "Your father told his four year old daughter to lie to him?"

"No, just not to admit that I'd had any involvement in anything."

"That's a lie of omission Ziva, it's just as bad."

Ziva didn't reply. She was feeling very conflicted at the moment, on one hand she thought that Gibbs might be right, but on the other it was hard to go against things that had been drummed into you constantly for twenty years.

"Ziva, what made you confess to your father after you broke the vase?"

"I felt guilty," she replied without hesitation.

"Did you feel a little better after you told him?"

This required a little more thought, but eventually she nodded.

"And when he said you shouldn't have told him?"

"I still felt guilty."

"Do you feel guilty about what you've done now?"

She nodded again.

"I am not your father Ziva. When you do something wrong, I want you to tell me. Think about it, if you'd told me you didn't go to the hospital, yes I would have been cross, but not half as much as I am now that you've lied to me as well. Do you see?"

Ziva nodded. "I guess."

"You're not in Israel anymore Ziver, you don't have to worry about what you think your father would expect. Just do what you think is right."

Tears began to form in her eyes as she whispered, "I was rude to you and Ducky and Jenny and the doctor."

Gibbs nodded and smiled. His newest team member clearly had a lot of issues, but he was confident that he was starting to get through to her.

"Come on then."

And, to his surprise, bent herself over his lap without protest, cajoling or arguments. He smiled again as he placed his hand on her lower back, as much to comfort as to restrain. Yes, he was definitely getting through to her.

Ziva was just as surprised as Gibbs at how willingly she'd gone across his lap this time, it went completely against the grain to allow him to do this to her, but she was tired of fighting him. She knew that he had her best interests at heart and that he would never truly hurt her. Plus, he'd hit the nail on the head in his assessment of why she was behaving the way she was and how she was feeling, and once again she found herself wondering if Gibbs cared for her more than her father.

She didn't have much to wonder this though, before she felt a sharp pain in her backside. At first, she automatically tried to remain strong but then she remembered Gibbs' words.

"_You don't have to worry what your father would expect."_

And so she stopped trying to be emotionless, she allowed herself to gasp at a particularly hard swat and allowed a tear to fall when he focused a number of smacks in one spot turning her bottom into a fiery inferno.

Suddenly Ziva became aware that the spanking had stopped, but that she had not been lifted up. Shifting position slightly and turning her head round to look at Gibbs, she gasped as she saw him pulling a thick mahogany hairbrush from an inside pocket of his jacket.

"Gibbs!" She exclaimed in alarm as she began to wriggle around in an attempt to get off of his lap. "You cannot hit me with _that_!"

"I am not going to hit you, I'm going to paddle you. There's a big difference. Now, stay still.

Ziva's earlier compliance had gone out of the window as soon as she saw the brush and she continued to thrash around.

"Ziva!" He snapped finally, smacking her again with his hand. The smack was hard and his raised voice surprised her and made her stop squirming and protesting.

"I need to to stop moving because it you're squirming around I might miss your bottom and hurt you."

"It's going to hurt if it hits my bottom too!"

"I know," he chuckled at her indignation. "That's the point, but it won't cause you any lasting damage. We're nearly done here, you just have to promise me you'll try and stay still."

Ziva glared at him but then turned back around. "Fine, I promise. I'll stay still."

"Good girl," he said, before raising the brush and bringing it down on her backside.

Ziva let out a cry. If she'd thought the spanking before had hurt, this was unbelievably painful. It felt like sitting on hot coals.

"Gibbs! Gibbs! Stop it! No more!" She cried out.

As she felt herself being tipped forward slightly and Gibbs starting to focus the paddling on her sit spots, the dam broke and she began to sob.

"Giiiiiiiibbs!" She wailed. "I'm sorrrrry! I'm sorry! Please! It hurts!"

Gibbs smacked the brush down twice more, then put it down of the table and began to rub Ziva's lower back as she cried.

He'd never believed his father when the man told him that it "this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you", but as he listened to Ziva sob, knowing that it was him who had caused her so much pain he realised that truer words had never been spoken.

"Shh, Ziva. It's okay, it's over," he consoled her gently, his stomach turning as he remembered that he was going to have to do this twice more before they could completely put the situation behind them.

Slowly but surely, her sobs began to lessen and her breathing evened out. He helped her up and was startled when Ziva, who was not usually one to initiate a hug, threw her arms around him.

"I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry! I will not be rude again!"

"I'm glad to hear it," he replied, hugging her tightly.

She pulled back from him and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Do we really have to do this twice more?"

Gibbs nodded and Ziva sighed.

"Are you going to use that thing again?" she asked, shooting a filthy look at the hairbrush on the table.

"We'll see."

Ziva picked up the offending item and looked at it. "Why do you have this anyway? It's not as if you have that much hair." She glanced up and smirked at him. "You bought it to brush your moustache, yes? There was more hair there than on your head."

"Hey!" he protested, tickling her sides."I have plenty of hair."

Ziva laughed and squirmed. "Gibbs! Stop it! That tickles! Okay, you have lots of hair!"

Gibbs shook his head and laughed. "Thank you, but I didn't buy it. I borrowed it from Jenny."

Ziva flushed bright red. "So she know that you. . .with this. . .?"

"Ziva, given what you did, I think everybody will have guessed."

Ziva sighed. "Tony will be insufferable."

"I think you may be pleasantly surprised on that front actually Ziva. No one likes getting a spanking and everyone seems to have a tendency to rally round everyone else when spankings have been dished out. I have a feeling you'll receive more sympathy than teasing."

Ziva nodded and stood up. "Okay, so I will go and clean up and go back to work now."

"Ziva," Gibbs called as she turned away.

"Yes Gibbs?"

"You can go and wash you're face but afterwards I think you need to pay a visit to autopsy."

Ziva groaned. "I forgot about that. Do I have to?"

"What do you think?"

"That that was a pretty stupid question."

Gibbs laughed. "Correct. Oh, and take Abby with you, she owes Ducky an apology too."

"Yes Gibbs," Ziva called over her shoulder as she left.

Gibbs smiled contentedly, it seemed he had, finally, got through to her.

**Sorry it took a while to update, this was a hard chapter to write, but I hope you enjoyed it!**


	25. Only Our Girls

"You go first!" Abby hissed at Ziva.

"No way! You go first!"

"I don't want to talk to Ducky when he's mad at me!"

"Neither do I!"

"You first!"

"You!" 

"You!" 

"Uh, guys? Doctor Mallard asked me to tell you to stop arguing and get out of the elevator." 

"What kind of mood is he in?" Abby asked worriedly.

"Oh, he's as pissed as agent Gibbs. I would not like to be either of you right now."

"Mr. Palmer! I told you to get them out of the elevator, not to have a chat with them!"

"Um, right, yes, sorry Doctor," Jimmy stuttered. "Good luck," he whispered to the two girls as they got out and made their way cautiously to the door.

They stood in front of Ducky, both staring sheepishly at their feet.

"I'm really, really sorry Ducky," Abby said eventually.

"Me too," Ziva agreed.

Ducky nodded. "I appreciate that, but you still disobeyed me over something very important. Do you understand how dangerous that was? What if Ziva had had internal bleeding? She could have suffered brain damage! Been paralysed! What you did was extremely foolhardy and I intend to insure that you do not do it again."

"Are you. . .going to. . .going to. . .like Gibbs?" Abby stammered, terrified at the idea.

"Because Gibbs only just spanked me," Ziva added quickly. "And I am still sore."

"Do not be under any delusion that I am not just as capable of spanking you as Jethro is, because I am and if either of you _ever_ do anything so dangerous and stupid again you can guarantee that you will find yourselves across my knee no matter how many people may have spanked you previously. However, as this is a first offence, I will not spank you this time. Instead you will be cleaning autopsy for me, this includes this room, all the freezers, the two store rooms and the lavatories."

Abby and Ziva exchanged a relieved look. Whilst cleaning autopsy would be boring, it wouldn't take very long and would be much better that getting spanked. Their relief was short lived however, when Ducky produced their cleaning supplies.

"You are joking yes?" Ziva asked looking at the two pink toothbrushes.

"No," Ducky replied.

"But Ducky! That will take us all day!" Abby wailed.

"Then you will have plenty of time to think about what you did wrong."

"This is a ridiculous punishment!" Ziva objected.

"If you would prefer, I could always spank you first."

Ziva opened her mouth to reply but Abby, whose previous experience had led her to be very wary of what Ziva might say, clamped a hand over her mouth.

"No Ducky, we're good. We'll clean up." 

"Good, there's buckets and soap in that cupboard over there. I expect this place to sparkle when I come back."

It was only when Ducky had got on the elevator that Abby released Ziva.

"Abby! You cannot seriously be thinking about doing this! It is ridiculous! I am an agent and you are a scientist, we are not slave labour! I will not do it!"

"Ziva would you stop being such an idiot!" Abby yelled, shocking Ziva into silence.

"Put this into perspective, would you prefer another spanking? Because I have only been spanked once and I have no desire to go through that again any time soon. Not to mention how angry Gibbs and Jenny would be if they found out you'd disobeyed Ducky _again_. You need to get yourself a brain Zi."

Part of Ziva wanted to argue with Abby, to tell her off for calling her an idiot, but much as she hated to admit it, she realised that Abby was right.

"Sorry Abby, you're right."

"Good, thank you. Now, I think we should get on with this, it's going to take forever!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NCISNCISNCISNCIS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Four hours later they had finished the main autopsy room and were stood in the toilets arguing over who was going to have to clean the lavatory with a toothbrush.

"No way Abby, I am not cleaning a toilet with a toothbrush. Especially not in the men's."

"What are you talking about? You use the men's all the time!" 

"No I don't! I go in there to talk to Tony because it makes him uncomfortable and sometimes I use them when there's groups of gossiping women in the ladies. I have_ never_ gone in there to clean them with a toothbrush."

"Well, you still go in them more than me so you can do the toilets and I'll do the storerooms."

Abby turned to leave and Ziva grabbed her arm, not yet ready to give up the fight. Abby shoved her backwards to try and get her off, which would have been fine had it not been for the fact that soap had been spilled on the floor. Ziva slipped and stumbled backwards, her hand still clutching Abby's arm. She tried desperately to keep her balance but couldn't stay upright and fell over, landing on the wet floor and pulling Abby on top of her.

There was a shocked silence as they realised what had happened and then, though there was a part of Abby's brain that warned her she would probably regret it, Abby started to laugh.

"You think this is funny do you?" Ziva asked angrily. She stood up quickly, and before Abby could move, she'd fallen back down.

The shocked look on Abby's face as she hit the floor dispelled Ziva's anger and she started to giggle.

"Thanks Ziva, real nice," Abby complained as she pulled herself up. "You've made my pants all wet! At least when I did it it was an accident."

Ziva was laughing too much to reply so Abby turned on the tap and splashed her with the cold water. Turning on the tap of the other sink, Ziva splashed her back and before long they were in the midst of a full scale water fight and both soaking wet.

Abby threw half a bucket of water at Ziva, who ducked and was about to retaliate when they heard a shout and turned to see a sopping wet Jenny standing in the doorway.

"Oops," Abby said quietly.

"What on earth are you doing? You're supposed to be cleaning."

"Yes, well Abby pushed me over."

"Hey! It was an accident! She did it to me on purpose."

"She splashed me!"

"She splashed me back!"

"Children!" Jen clapped her hands together as if trying to control a first grade class. "Like I said, you're supposed to be cleaning." Neither of them moved. "Start cleaning!"

Fifteen minutes later, Ducky and Gibbs walked into autopsy to check on the girls and found a soaked Abby and Ziva on their hands and knees cleaning the floor, being supervised by an equally soaked Jenny.

Gibbs' eyes almost popped out of his head. "Uh, Jenny?"

"Yes?" she snapped.

"Uh, you're. . .you're all wet?"

Jenny rolled her eyes. "Really? I hadn't noticed." 

Gibbs glared at her. "What happened?"

Jenny looked down to the girls who were looking up at the three older adults nervously.

"Girls?"

"Well," Abby began. "We couldn't decide who was going to have to clean the lavatories so we had a bit of an argument. . ."

". . .and we kind of fell down a couple of times. . ."

". . .and she was laughing at me. . ."

". . .so she splashed me. . ."

". . .and then she splashed me back. . ."

". . .and it kind of. . ."

". . .escalated from there."

Gibbs shook his head. "Honestly, you're worse than a pair of three year olds!"

The two girls looked down embarrassedly, and Gibbs sighed.

"Have you finished cleaning?"

"I think so."

"Okay, well, you three go and dry yourselves up."

As the three women hurried out of autopsy, Ducky couldn't help but laugh and Gibbs soon joined him.

"How on earth did they manage to turn a punishment into a water fight Duck?"

Ducky chuckled and shook his head. "I honestly don't know, Jethro, but I think it's something only our girls could pull off."

"Oh yeah, only our girls."

**Please review!**


	26. Sweet Dreams

**I'm so sorry for how long it took me to update this but I've spent the last couple of months revising madly for final exams. Now it's the summer and the horrid things are out of the way, updates should be much more frequent! Thank you very much for still reading my story and, again, I apologize for the delay.**

"Ziva? Ziva?" Gibbs gently shook the young woman's shoulder and she sat up groggily.

"We're home now," he informed her and she nodded, rubbing her eyes and shifting around slightly in her seat.

He sighed quietly as he looked at her. The events of the last few days had really taken it out of her and she looked exhausted.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm. . ."

She had said the words so many times that they had become automatic. Ever since she was little her response to that question had always been the same, _'I'm fine, I'm fine'_, even when she knew it was a lie, she never had to think about it. The fact that she had stopped herself now worried her at first, but then made her wonder.

Was she beginning to trust Gibbs? She had never trusted anyone before, not completely. She'd always set herself up for the worst, believing anyone she cared about would leave her. But she did not think Gibbs would. She didn't know why she trusted a man she had know for mere months more than people she had known for years, but she did. Maybe her father had been right, maybe America was going to make her soft. Or maybe she was right to feel this way. Being suspicious of everyone, being constantly on her guard, was exhausting. Maybe she should trust someone, let her defences down let someone in. Maybe she should trust Gibbs.

"Ziva? How are you feeling?"

She lifted her head and looked at him. There was no malice in his eyes, no anger. Only concern.

"My head hurts," she whispered.

Gibbs allowed himself a small smile, knowing that, for her, that simple sentence was monumental. "I have some Tylenol inside."

She returned his smile. "Thank you Gibbs."

Her thank you, he knew, was for much more than the painkillers.

"You're welcome," he replied, kissing her cheek. "Thank you for telling me it hurts."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NCISNCISNCISNCIS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time dinner was ready, Ziva had decided that she hated Tylenol. Her head was still pounding, the gash on her neck burned, her backside stung and all that the medicine had seemed to achieve was to make her exhausted.

She picked at her steak unenthusiastically while Gibbs watched her across the table.

"Did the Tylenol help?" he asked eventually

"No, my head still hurts and now I am smashed."

"I beg your pardon?" Gibbs asked, surprised.

"I am smashed."

"Are you completely sure about that Ziva?"

"Yes, of course I am sure! I am completely and utterly smashed. I just want to go to bed."

Gibbs chuckled. "So you mean that you're shattered?"

Ziva groaned. "I hate American idioms! What is the difference?"

"Actually it's quite a significant one Ziva. If you're shattered, you're tired but if you're smashed, you're drunk."

"Oh," she thought about this for a moment. "I hate English."

Gibbs laughed again. "So you keep saying. If you're tired just go up to bed."

She smiled at him and lay her cutlery down. "Okay, goodnight Gibbs."

"Goodnight Ziver."

Half an hour later, Gibbs headed upstairs to check on Ziva. He smiled as he put his head around the door and saw her sprawled out across the bed, still fully dressed. He bent down and removed her boots and then, with some degree of difficulty, pulled the blankets back and tucked her in. He smiled as she curled up under the quilt, her hair spread across the pillow. She looked so young and sweet and fragile when she slept and reminded him so much of Kelly.

He lent over and kissed her cheek gently.

"Goodnight Ziver, sweet dreams."

**Please review!**


	27. Another Daughter To Protect

**I'm so, so, so sorry for how long it's taken to update this! I've had a lot going on but I hope I haven't lost all of my readers. Thank you all very much for the reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

The next morning, Gibbs was pleased to note, Ziva was much happier. Now that the truth was out, the huge weight of guilt she'd been carrying around had disappeared and the Tylenol had finally kicked in reducing the excruciating pain in her head to a slight ache. In fact, the only thing that was wrong at the moment was the knowledge that Gibbs was not yet done with punishing her, but she was managing to push that thought out of her head for the moment.

"Good morning Gibbs," she greeted cheerfully as she entered the kitchen. "What's for breakfast?" To Gibbs' surprise she followed this up with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He quickly got over his shock and hugged her back.

"I'm glad to see my little Ziver's so much chirpier this morning," he said with a smile.

Ziva nodded as the sat down at the table. "Yes I think the medicine has worked now. Gibbs?"

"Yes?"

"I am very, very sorry about what happened. I really think I've learnt my lesson."

"I'm glad to hear it," Gibbs said with a smirk. "You've still got two more spankings coming."

"But Giiiiiibs," she whined. "I really have learnt my lesson."

"Ziva," he warned.

Ziva sighed. "Sorry Gibbs, I just really don't like getting spanked."

"I think that's kind of the point Ziver," he replied as he put a box of cereal on the table. "But I don't enjoy spanking you either."

Ziva raised her eyebrows incredulously. "Yes, I'm sure you find it extremely traumatising."

Gibbs smiled slightly and pushed the milk across the table to her. "It is not exactly traumatising but certainly unpleasant."

"Why do you do it then? If everyone hates it, what's the point?"

"The point is, Ziva, that you, and all the others, are usually sensible and mature but sometimes you do silly and dangerous things like you did the other day. You know that I think of you as my children and, as your father, it's my responsibility to do everything I can to keep you safe. Spanking has thus far appeared the most effective deterrent but even still, I hate to see any of you hurt and it's even worse when I'm the one causing that pain."

"But it's for our own good."

"Yeah Zi, it is. But it's going to hurt me more than it hurts you."

Ziva rolled her eyes, "I seriously doubt that, but okay."

Gibbs smiled, "Eat something then come down to the basement."

"No cooked breakfast this morning?" Ziva asked, holding up the box of Cheerios.

"Uh, no, I forgot to go shopping yesterday."

Ziva laughed, "Typical man, completely incapable of looking after yourself."

Gibbs rolled his eyes, "I am perfectly capable of living on Cheerios thank you very much."

"Still," Ziva smirked as she poured some into her bowl. "I think this place could still use a woman's touch. You know Jenny would. . ."

"Ziva," Gibbs groaned. "I get enough of that from Abby, please don't you start too."

Ziva laughed. "I'll see you in a minute Gibbs."

Gibbs went down to the basement deep in thought. He pulled one of the work benches out to the middle of the room and cleared some space around it. He grabbed a key from a box and, after a great deal of internal debate, unlocked one of the cupboards. He pulled out a hand-crafted paddle and turned it in his hands a few times. He remembered the day he had made it, and the day he had locked it away sure that it would never be used again.

xxxFLASHBACKxxx

Gibbs put down his sandpaper and held his latest project up for inspection. It was well made, shaped and sanded to perfection, but he had an overwhelming urge to smash it into pieces. The only thing that stopped him was how terrified he'd felt when he couldn't find his baby girl, and the mixture of relief and anger that had overcome him when Maddie's mother had called to tell him that Kelly had turned up there.

He heard footsteps on the stairs and looked up to see Shannon coming down. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Well, aside from the ten years of my life that I lost when we couldn't find her, I'm fine." Shannon looked at the paddle her husband was holding. "You've only ever used your hand before."

"Kelly's never done anything like this before. It's five blocks to Maddie's house Shannon, anything could have happened."

"I know," she sighed. "Just, don't be too hard on her, please."

"She'll be fine Shannon. I promise."

Shannon nodded. "I love you Jethro."

"I love you too Shannon."

"Good luck."

"Thanks," Gibbs sighed, he was going to need it.

A year later Gibbs was stood in that same place holding that same paddle. But this time there was no disobedient but wonderful daughter up in her room and the only creaks on the stairs were caused by the wind.

A tear rolled down Gibbs cheek as he looked the paddle away in the cupboard. He had tried so hard to be a good father, to protect his daughter, but just when she had needed him most, he wasn't there.

"I'm so sorry Kelly," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."

xxxEND FLASHBACKxxx

He turned the paddle in his hands again for the first time almost twenty years later. He had been so sure he would never have another family, another daughter to use this paddle on and yet, somehow here he was.

It was sort of fitting really, he thought. He had only used the paddle on Kelly once but his sole purpose when making it was to give his daughter an incentive to keep herself safe and now he had another daughter to protect, even if it was from herself, and he was determined to do a better job this time. He would not bury another child.

He could almost hear Shannon's voice in his head, _"Don't be too hard on her Jethro."_

But then Shannon's voice became Jenny's, echoing the words she had said earlier that day. _"She'll listen eventually Jethro. You just have to keep pushing her back." _

Maybe Abby and Ziva were right, He mused. If he could love his five new grown up children just as much as he'd loved Kelly, maybe he could love Jenny too. There would never be a replacement for Shannon and Kelly of course, but now that a chance to have a family again had been thrown at him, he thought that maybe they'd want him to take it.

Shannon had always been big on making the most of life and Kelly, throughout her eight short years, had been so vibrant and happy. He'd spent nearly twenty years grieving for them, perhaps now was the time to try and be happy again.

In his mind he could see Shannon and Kelly smiling.

"Yes," he whispered. "I think you'd want me to be happy wouldn't you? You know that I will always love you both so much, but I love the others too." He laughed slightly. "You always wanted a little sister didn't you Kelly? Well, now you've got two, I just wish you were here to see them."

"Gibbs?"

Ziva's voice behind him made him jump and he turned around. Ziva took in his sad expression and the paddle in his hand.

"Kelly?" she asked quietly.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry Gibbs."

He smiled at her. "Don't be. I think they're happy that I'm happy. That I have a family again."

Ziva smiled back. "Really?"

"Yeah, I've been sad for a long time, I thought I'd just go on being sad forever but that was never going to happen with you lot around." It was strange, he thought. He usually hated to talk about his wife and daughter but stood here with Ziva he found that he that the words came easily.

"They would have adored you you know, all of you. Though at the moment Shannon would have been even more mad at you than I am." He added glaring at her.

Ziva couldn't help but laugh a little. It seemed very surreal to her, to talk about the dead this way. But she had come from a different place, a different world, where death was something to be dealt with on a daily basis and her coping mechanisms were very different.

"I find it hard to believe that _anyone_ could be more mad at me than you are."

Gibbs smiled, "She did not like the people she loved putting themselves in danger, whether it was Kelly wandering off or me going to Kuwait. And she would definitely have loved you."

Ziva sat on the bench and looked up at him. "She sounds nice."

"She was," he agreed.

"You don't usually talk about them."

"No," he said sitting beside her. "It's hard, I loved them so much."

Ziva nodded, she could understand that feeling. "Why are you talking about them now?"

"Well," he twirled the paddle around in his hands. "I made this paddle the first time Kelly put herself in danger and when I came down here it seemed the obvious thing to use given the situation."

"How do you mean?"

"My daughter put herself in danger." He said simply and she smiled. He placed a hand on her cheek and looked at her seriously. "Please take better care of yourself Ziver. I have buried two daughters already and I don't think I could take losing another."

"Two daugh. . .oh, Kate. I'm sorry Gibbs, I'll take better care of myself."

He nodded. "Okay. Let's get this over. Do you remember what this one's for?"

She nodded. "The fight because I could have gotten hurt or hurt one of the others and it was very childish and would have given a very bad impression of NCIS if there had been any visitors there."

Gibbs nodded and took her hand, helping he over his lap.

Gibbs raised the paddle, took and deep breath and brought it down on her bottom.

Ziva gasped when the paddle hit her. She had known it would be painful but she had not expected it to be quite this bad. By the tenth swat she was squirming around on his lap as a fie began to build in her backside.

"Owww, Gibbs! Gibbs! I'm sorry! I won't fight with the others again I promise. Please stop! Oww! Gibbs! That hurts!"

"I know. Nearly done now."

Saying this, he dropped his left knee and raised his right exposing her sensitive sit spots.

"Gibbs!" Ziva wailed as she realised what he was doing. "Stop it!"

Gibbs wanted nothing more at moment than to put the paddle down and give her a big hug but he knew he had to finish what he started.

He brought the paddle down on her her backside and Ziva immediately burst into tears and lay sobbing over his knee until he had finished. Gibbs rubbed her back gently as she began to calm down.

"I'm sorry Gibbs. I promise I won't fight at work again."

He lifted her up and wrapped his arms around her. "I know sweetheart."

She hugged him back. "I love you Daddy," she whispered.


	28. You're Forgiven

**I'm so sorry that this took so long to upload but I hope you all enjoy the conclusion to my fist ever fanfiction! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed alerted or favourited this story and I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!**

For the rest of the day Ziva busied herself in helping Gibbs with various household tasks. She did the washing up, dusted and hoovered the living room and painted

the fence. She found that she didn't mind as much as she thought she would, Gibbs was a very interesting man to talk to and she quite enjoyed painting. By dinner

time however, the jovial air that existed between them had given way to awkward, apprehensive tension.

Ziva looked up at Gibbs, a nervous look in her eyes.

"This is the last one right?"

"The last one," he assured her.

She nodded. "I'll do the dishes clean up here if you like."

Gibbs nodded back and gave her a light kiss on the head as he walked out.

"I'll see you in the living room when you're finished."

Ziva knew that she was stalling, she had washed up after dinner parties faster than she was washing now but it was hard to make herself leave the safety of the kitchen to face what she knew was awaiting her in the living room.

"Ziva!" Gibbs called when she was still cleaning the kitchen twenty minutes later. "You'd better be here in the next two minutes. You don't want me to come and get you."

Sighing, Ziva put down her wash cloth, wiped her hands on her jeans and walked slowly in.

As she stood in the doorway, reluctant to come any closer, Gibbs was struck again by how childlike she was and his heart ached for what he was about to do to her. He held his hand out and she came cautiously towards him and took it.

"What's this one for?" he asked

"It's for. . .it's for lying." Tears were already forming in her eyes as she knew how much Gibbs detested lying, and how much she hated it herself.

Seeing the sorrow in her eyes he decided that there was no need to say anything else. He gestured to his lap and she bent over it.

Compared to the other spankings that she had received in the last few days, this one was a walk in the park but all the guilt and pain of everything that had happened came rushing back right from the first swat and by the end the she was sobbing. He lifted her up and held her close.

"It's okay Ziver. It's all done now. You're fine."

"I'm sorry Gibbs."

"I know Zi, but it's over now. You're forgiven."

"Does that mean I'm not grounded anymore?" She asked, leaning back and looking at him with a hopeful smile.

He laughed and kissed her forehead. "Nice try Ziva, but I need someone to help me put up some shelves tomorrow."

" Drat," she sighed, but she was still smiling.

The shelves turned out to be for the room that Ziva and Abby shared when they stayed with Gibbs and the next day the two spent a rather pleasant morning cutting the ends into spirals and painting them.

When they were finished, Gibbs took Ziva out to eat at his favourite steakhouse and she found herself eating and laughing more than she had in a very long time. On their way back, after plenty of begging and pleading, Ziva managed to convince Gibbs to rent "The Sound Of Music" and she laughed even more when Gibbs began to sing along.

By the time Ziva went up to bed, she was exhausted but happy and after Gibbs had come up to tuck her in, kiss her forehead and reassure her of his love, she fell asleep with a big smile on her face. It had been a really good day.


End file.
